Randolph claims ODAC soccer title

The Randolph College men’s soccer team has a flair for the dramatic.

The team, in just its fifth season of existence, rallied from a 1-0 deficit for the third time in three Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament games to defeat visiting Lynchburg College, 2-1, in the championship match on Saturday.

The victory not only earns the WildCats (15-5) their first ODAC title, but it secured the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The first round parings will be announced Monday.

“That’s how we like to do it,” RC coach Bryan Waggoner said. “The guys like to give me gray hairs. I think I’ve aged about 30 years during this season. It’s a testament to their heart and their belief in each other.”

The Hornets finish the season with a 7-8-4 record, a far cry from last year when they lost in the national championship game.

“I’m pretty disappointed,” LC coach Chris Yeager said. “We had some pretty high expectations. Our goal has always been to win the ODAC championship and we were right there and didn’t do it.

“I’m really proud of our seniors. We were dead and they brought us back in a tough conference. We were the sixth seed. We were out of it, but they fought hard.”

Lynchburg had the better of it in first half, but came away with only one goal — and that was kind of a fluke. Lynchburg played a seemingly harmless ball into the penalty area that Randolph’s defense should have had little problem clearing.

The WildCats’ defender let the ball bounce instead of smashing it clear of danger. He may have been thinking RC’s goalie Carter Smith was going to collect it. But as Smith was about to make a play for the ball, Lynchburg’s Ryan Renfro (Brookville) slipped in front of him. Smith grabbed the Hornets’ forward around the waist and took him down.

The referee awarded Lynchburg a penalty kick and LC’s Evan Rusk converted the kick with an upper-right shot when Smith guessed left to put Lynchburg up 1-0 in the 24th minute.

The second half belonged to Randolph. The WildCats opened up things on the flanks and started to find some rhythm. They also started earning corner kicks, a dangerous proposition for RC opponents.

Five of the six goals Randolph scored in the ODAC tournament came off of corner kicks, including both of the goals against Lynchburg.

“Our set pieces are pretty deadly and it showed again today,” Waggoner said.

The first goal came in the 68th minute when John Adams (E.C. Glass) made a terrific near-post run to get to Nick Cornell’s corner kick and used a glancing header to redirect the ball past LC’s goalie Michael Releford.

“I got a little piece of it and the next thing I know the crowd was really getting into it,” Adams said. “It feels amazing. Lynchburg is a very good team and to come get the very first Randolph College ODAC championship is amazing.”

Added Waggoner: “John Adams is a terrific athlete and he really rose up to nod that one into net. We knew it was going to take something special to beat Releford tonight. He made one save I don’t think I’ve ever seen a goal-keeper make at this level.”

Releford was credited with only two saves, but both were highlight-reel worthy. The most impressive came off of a Randolph corner. The ball ended up falling to an unmarked Cornell in the middle box. He took a full swing from about eight yards out and the shot appeared to be headed for the upper 90 percent of the goal until Releford sprung up and punched the ball clear.

Will Wolf got the second goal, his second game-winner of the tournament, when he headed home Cornell’s back-post, corner-kick in the 83rd minute to take a 2-1 lead.

“I’m pretty disappointed,” Yeager said. “I never would have predicted we would play that way in the second half. We know they are a second-half team. We just didn’t show up. They deserved to win. They did what they do well. They scored on a couple of corners.”