(October 28, 2006) VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – Hampden-Sydney lost a tough game against Virginia Wesleyan in the quarterfinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament. With the loss, the Tigers drop to 10-6-2 on the season. The Marlins improve to 12-3-3 and will face the winner of the Roanoke/Bridgewater game.

Both teams started the match with an aggressive style of play; however, in the 24th minute, Virginia Wesleyan took the lead on a James Monastra goal, assisted by Clay Price. The Tigers responded five minutes later as sophomore midfielder Jason Butler (Richmond, VA/Mills E. Godwin) found freshman JoJo Howard (Lanexa, VA/New Kent) who was able to beat the Marlin goalkeeper and tie the game, 1-1. The scored remained tied at one through the first half, and in the second half, both teams had several quality chances. Freshman defender Christopher Tait (Nokesville, VA/Brentsville) was able to head a ball out of the Tiger net to keep the game tied. In the 81st minute, Virginia Wesleyan was fouled from about 35 yards from the Tiger goal. Evan Rodway took the free kick for the Marlins and was able to find Dustin Skees who headed the ball into the net to give the Marlins the win, 2-1.

Despite windy conditions and a hostile crowd, the Tigers played spirited soccer. Head Coach Josh Laux stated, "We all have mixed emotions about the game. Of course we wanted to win, but at the same time, I thought we played our best soccer of the year. I felt we did a good job of connecting passes and playing with intensity the entire game. We did a good job of defending their long-ball attack. After the game, our guys handled themselves in such a way that the entire College should be proud."