BOX SCORE

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Junior forward Charlie Letson (Wilmington, NC) scored the game-winning goal in the 79th minute, assisted by classmate and forward Pierce Boerner (Midlothian), to lead Hampden-Sydney College to a 2-1 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) men's soccer road win at Randolph College on Saturday night in Lynchburg. The visiting Tigers and host WildCats were scoreless at the intermission, before senior defender and team captain Justin Varela (Midlothian) scored the game's first goal, unassisted, in the 53rd minute. H-SC improved to 7-3-3 overall, remaining unbeaten in the ODAC at 5-0-2, while Randolph is now 3-6-5 overall, 2-4-1 in the ODAC.

"Resilient effort by the guys and quite a few players stepped up tonight," said eighth-year head coach Tommy DiNuzzo. "Every game in the ODAC is incredibly competitive this time of year, and we are proud of the team for finding a way to win, and getting out of there with three points."

The two teams battled scoreless through the opening 45 minutes with H-SC getting shots on goal from sophomore midfielder Kaden Sawyer (Virginia Beach) in the 10th minute and Letson in the 11th minute, while sophomore midfielder Tyler Petz (Cary, NC) followed with a pair in the 22nd and 30th minutes. Freshman midfielder Colin Mason (Lynchburg) added another attempt on target in the 34th minute, and junior midfielder Jack Delaney (Virginia Beach) had one in the 39th minute, while the Tigers' defense was stout and never allowed Randolph a shot attempt during the first half.

The WildCats quickly managed two shots on goal to begin the second half, but senior goalkeeper Wills Huddleston (Baldwin, MD) saved both attempts.

H-SC got on the scoreboard early in the second half when Varela fired a shot into the upper right corner of the net at 52:16 for a 1-0 advantage. Letson almost had a goal in the 54th minute, but the attempt was saved. Randolph, however, responded with a goal of its own from Kendall Brooks at 54:11, assisted by Zach Nipper, tying the contest at 1-1.

The two squads played evenly again for the next 24-plus minutes with only one attempt on target from either team, that by sophomore midfielder Ka'eo Gonsalves (Midlothian) in the 75th minute. Letson scored what proved to be the game-winner when he took a pass from Boerner and was successful with a low shot into the center of the net at 78:25. The WildCats had one more attempt on goal in the 81st minute that Huddleston stopped, as well, to preserve the road triumph.

H-SC took a 15-6 advantage in shots against Randolph, including 10-4 in attempts on goal, and the Tigers had a 5-1 edge in corner kicks.

Huddleston started in front of the net for the visitors and played the entire contest (90:00), finishing with three saves.

H-SC travels back to the Hill City to play at ODAC member the University of Lynchburg on Wednesday night, October 23, at 7 p.m. on Shellenberger Field in Lynchburg. The Tigers and Hornets are currently tied for first place in the conference standings with 17 points each.