College Men’s Soccer Final – #8 Randolph 3, #9 Guilford 2 (ODAC First Round)

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Eight-seeded Randolph College’s Travis Brown scored an overtime goal to stop a strong Guilford College rally as the ninth-seeded Quakers dropped a Monday evening Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament first round game over Randolph, 3-2.

The first ten minutes featured a fast, wide-open pace where both side fired three shots a piece in the first six minutes. After a short calm, Joe Uzdavinis flicked a right-corner cross into traffic inside the box for Travis Brown. Brown booted the ball from the near post in the 11th minute to claim an early lead. The WildCats (8-5-5) picked up the pace after the goal, out-shooting the Quakers, 6-1, over the next 15 minutes as Quakers’ (7-9-3) goalie Eric Hayes (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) made two saves with the Guilford defense holding.

The WildCats held the offensive advantage through the first 15 minutes of the second half, firing the period’s first five shots. Guilford began to boot a pair of shots as both sides countered each other when the pace picked up through the 70th minute. Randolph claimed a two-goal lead in the 78th minute off of a Blake Heatherly free kick, feeding Cristian Irigoyen to the back post. A minute and half later, Ricky Aguilar (Sanford, N.C./Southern Lee) drew a foul in the box and converted on a penalty kick to put the Quakers on the board. Possession began to alternate heading into the final minutes when Leke Ademoyero (Pfafftown, N.C./Reagan) got behind Randolph defenders to the back post and tied the contest in the 88th minute. Hayes made one more save with 18 seconds left to send the match to overtime.

Randolph held possession for most of the overtime and coverted in the 93rd minute when Irigoyen delivered a throw-in pass to Brown, who headed the ball into the back post to earn the win.

Randolph out-shot the Quakers, 29-11, and held a 9-1 edge on corner kicks.

Hayes finished the contest with seven saves, concluding a season where he led the ODAC in saves. Randolph’s Erick Cortez-Martinez stopped two shots.