Cary, N.C.- The Randolph men's lacrosse team made a midweek visit to North Carolina to take on William Peace on Wednesday. It was a back-and-forth game for most of the contest but the host Pacers held on in the end for a 15-13 win.
The game was scoreless in the first quarter until Randolph's Harrison Briggs (Wells, ME/Wells High) got the WildCats on the board with a goal at the 8:13 mark. Noah Callahan (Bristow, Va./Brentsville District HS) gave the 'Cats a 2-0 lead at the 7:29 mark. The Pacers tallied a pair of goals less than a minute apart to knot the game at 2-2 with 6:39 left in the period. Ethan Caldwell's (Santa Fe, N.M./Santa Fe Prep School) goal at 5:03 gave the lead back to Randolph. After William Peace tied it up again. Michael Baldwin's (Culpepper, Va./Liberty) score with 36 ticks on the clock gave the WildCats the lead again, 4-3, at the end of the quarter.
Baldwin scored for the WildCats 47 seconds into the second quarter to make it 5-3. The Pacers once again tied it with two straight goals but Caldwell scored for the second time on the afternoon to restore Randolph's one-goal lead. William Peace, however, notched a goal with just under seven minutes remaining to tie it up and then took its first lead of the day at 4:17. Caldwell assisted Nathan Pradachith (Alexandria, Va./Edison) on his goal with 2:37 showing on the clock to tie the game at 7-7 going into halftime.
In the third period, William Peace scored goals one minute apart to take a 9-7 lead. Randolph knotted it up at 9-9, the Pacers led 11-9, and then the 'Cats tied again at 11-11 with 3:16 remaining. The Pacers ended the third quarter on a 3-0 run to go ahead 14-11.
Randolph closed to within one goal with two scores to start the fourth quarter. William Peace added to its lead with a goal at 4:43. That would be the last goal of the game as the WildCat defense held the Pacers to just two shots but Randolph had a shot hit the cross bar and another one was stopped with time ticking down.
Callahan led the team with four goals and added two assists. Baldwin finished with four goals. Caldwell scored a hat trick and also had two assists. Briggs and Pradachith both scored once. Leyton Brightly (Spotsylvania, Va./James Monroe) tallied four assists, five groundballs, and two caused turnovers.
On the defensive side, Gavin Maple (Fredericksburg, Va./Riverbend) caused three turnovers. Parker Eastman (Ruther Glen, Va./Riverbend HS) caused two turnovers and picked up three groundballs and Josh Parker (Fort Moore, Ga./North Stafford HS) also had three groundballs. Adam Ulffers (Greenville, N.C./J.H. Rose HS) started in the cage and stopped 13 shots.
The WildCats return home to host Juniata on Sunday. Game time will be at 1:00 p.m.
