LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's soccer team hosted Averett in their regular season home finale on Wednesday evening at WildCat Stadium. Randolph took an early lead but the visiting Cougars scored two unanswered goals to come back and defeat the WildCats 2-1.
Randolph scored just under four minutes into the first half. Zach Nipper (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) set up for a corner kick that found Cooper Sayles (Hamilton, Va./Loudon Valley) in the middle and Sayles booted it in for the score to put the 'Cats ahead 1-0 early. The WildCat lead held until the 30th minute when Daniel Starr connected off an assist by Jonthomas Buckley to knot the game at 1-1.
The second half saw the Randolph defense keep the Cougars off balance in the early stages. AU scored in the 74th minute as Buckey assisted Agustin Jaraba on the goal. The WildCats had two shots on goal in the entire second half.
Overall, both teams were close in total shots as it slightly favored Averett 12-10. The Cougars led in shots on goal 6-5.
Carter Kelly (Carrollton, Va./Smithfield) played 84:06 in the net and stopped four shots. Libaan Bashir (Aldie, Va.) filled in for 5:54 of game time. Tyler Yates had four saves for the Cougars.
Randolph ends its season with a final record of 3-9-5 overall and 2-7-1 in ODAC play.
