LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's soccer team hosted Hampden-Sydney on Senior Night at WildCat Stadium on Saturday night. A scoreless first half gave way to a three-goal second half as the visiting Tigers held off the WildCats 2-1.
Randolph falls to 3-6-5 overall and 2-4-1 in the conference. The Tigers improve to 7-3-3 and 5-0-2 in the ODAC.
Hampden-Sydney held Randolph without a shot in the first half and tallied nine shots in the period. WildCat keeper Carter Kelly (Carrollton, Va./Smithfield) was able to keep the Tigers from scoring as he made six saves in the half.
The game remained scoreless until the 53rd minute. Off a free kick, the ball made its way to Justin Varela who headed it in over Kelly to put the Tigers up 1-0.
The Hampden-Sydney lead did not last long. Less than two minutes later, Zach Nipper (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) was able to find Kendall Brooks (Bowie, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) who settled the pass down and fired a shot that glanced off the bottom half of the crossbar and in to knot the game at 1-1.
Both teams continued to battle looking for the next goal to put either back on top. The Tigers scored the game winner in the 79th minute as Pierce Boerner assisted Charlie Letson.
The second half saw both teams register six shots each. The Tigers finished the game leading the WildCats 15-6 overall and 10-4 in shots on goal. Corner kicks were in Hampden-Sydney's favor 5-1.
Kelly had a season and career-high eight saves in net for Randolph. His counterpart for Hampden-Sydney, Wills Huddleston, finished with three saves on the night.
Randolph heads on the road for its next contest on Tuesday at Bridgewater. Game time will be at 4:00 p.m.
