LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's soccer team hosted Hampden-Sydney in a tense conference match at a cold WildCat Stadium on Saturday evening. The Tigers went ahead 3-0 in the first half but the WildCats rallied in the second period and had a couple of late scoring opportunities as Hampden-Sydney held off the WildCats 3-2.
Randolph drops to 5-4-2 overall and 2-3-1 in the ODAC. HS-c improves to 5-4-2 and registers its first conference win of the season to go to 1-3-1.
Hampden-Sydney scored the first of its three first half goals in the 9th minute. Less than six minutes later, the Tigers struck again to go ahead 2-0. HS-C scored a third time in the 35th minute as Michael Ogenyi deflected a shot from Jackson Burkhart and past Randolph keeper Zach Aylor (Vinton, Va./William Byrd) to make it 3-0.
The WildCats needed a big rally in the second half to get back in the game. Randolph got on the board in the 55th minute as Hordy Ndambo (Kissimmee, Fla./Osceola) sent a pass to Noah Carney (Charleston, W.V./Homeschool) who fired a shot in traffic to the top right of the goal and in to make it a 3-1 contest.
It didn't take long for Randolph to strike again. At 58:18, Carney back kicked a pass to his brother Isaac who got ahead of the Tiger defense and blasted a shot into the back of the net to make it 3-2.
The WildCats looked to carry their momentum for the rest of the half. The Randolph defense held the Tigers to two shots in the second period.
The 'Cats nearly had the equalizer in the 84th minute. Isaac Carney sent in a corner kick from the left side that got to Parker Aaron (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) from 18 yards out but Aaron's shot glanced off the cross bar. Another corner kick from the right side found the head of Brandon John (Clarksburg, Md./Clarksburg) but his attempt also hit the crossbar. The WildCats would not get another shot off for the remainder of the half.
Overall, Randolph led in total shots 10-7. Shots on goal were in the Tigers' favor 7-5.
Aylor finished with four saves for the WildCats. His counterpart for the Tigers Connor Kitson had three saves.
With an intense game, there were 10 yellow cards issued. Seven cards went to Randolph and three to Hampden-Sydney.
Randolph doesn't have to go far for its next game as it travels across town to face Lynchburg on Wednesday in the first meeting between the two teams since last year's ODAC Championship game that the Hornets won 1-0. Game time from Shellenberger Field is at 7:00 p.m.
