HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA – The Hampden-Sydney soccer team spoiled the opening of Randolph-Macon College's new turf field, Nunnally Field, with a 4-2 win over the Yellow Jackets on Thursday evening in Ashland. Sophomore Kade Wheeler/Blacksburg finished with four points for the Tigers with the game-winning goal and two assists.
H-SC took four consecutive shots in a span of just over a minute and half early in the first half but was unable to find the back of the net. It was then the Yellow Jackets that had chances to score with three corner kicks in less than minute and half, but the Tiger defense staved off any shots.
It was late in the 25th minute when a pass from freshman Declan Shaw/Durham, NC to Jon Vergara/Chesterfield from the top of the box made it past the Macon keeper to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later Shaw found pass from Wheeler and punched it to the back of net to extend the H-SC lead to 2-0 at the 26:30 mark, which they would keep going into the break.
It was just 13 minutes into the second half before Wheeler took a blocked shot in the box and found an out of place Randolph-Macon goalie to extend the lead, 3-0, at 57:32.
The Yellow Jackets scored their first goal off a corner kick at 61:10 off a two-pass to a header to cut the deficit to two goals, 3-1. Randolph-Macon used one of their 11 corner kicks at 81:18 to cut the lead to one with a double-pass header goal.
After a long kick from goalie Gray Sutter/Clinton, NC downfield, freshman Emory Davis/Palmyra touched the ball to Wheeler before taking a cross inside the box and tapped in the goal at 83:01 past an out-of-place Yellow Jacket goalie to push the Tigers lead to 4-2.
Sutter made two saves on the night to win his second game in a row. The Tigers had the advantage in shots (24-15) and shots on goal (10-4) while the Yellow Jackets had the lead in saves (6-2) and corner kicks (11-3). For the season, H-SC has out shot its opponents 51-19 and leads in shots on goal, 22-4.
The Tigers (2-0, 2-0 ODAC) will continue their road trip on Sunday, March 7 when they visit Randolph College. The game against the WildCats will begin at 6 p.m. in Lynchburg.
