ASHLAND, Va. – The Shenandoah University men's soccer team officially closed out the regular season on the road against Randolph-Macon on Wednesday afternoon. The Hornets (8-4-4, 5-2-3) defeated the Yellow Jackets (6-7-3, 3-4-3) 4-0 in a game with playoff implications. Entering the game, the Hornets were in a three-way tie for fourth place, and the right to host a quarterfinal matchup, with Roanoke and EMU. The Hornets now await their fate and will be scoreboard-watching as Roanoke takes on Averett tonight at 7 p.m.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Shenandoah outshot Randolph-Macon 12-10 and had the edge with shots on goal 7-3.
Nathan Yared scored his league-leading and team-leading 10
th goal of the season and also picked up on
Kyle Welch's fifth of the season.
Aaron Alexander scored his third of the season, and had his second-straight game with a goal.
Ryan Shute and
Niclas Vavra eached picked up their first of the season.
Travis Jett got the start in goal, and made two saves on the afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hornets jumped all over the Yellow Jackets from the start applying pressure and looking for the early lead, but Macon held their ground and kept the visitors at bay. In the 25
th minute,
Nathan Yared would connect on his team-leading and league-leading 10
th goal of the season to give the Hornets the early lead. Shenandoah would not be done there, in the 29
th minute
Kyle Welch and
Nathan Yared would play give-and-go as they weaved through the defense before Welch would score his 5
th of the year. The offense was still not done when
Aaron Alexander entered the game in the 31
st minute, and then promptly scored his third of the season in the 32
nd minute.
Ryan Shute, not wanting to be left out of the scoring party, entered the game took a ball from
Aaron Alexander, and scored his first of the season to comfortably put the Hornets up 4-0 going into the half.
After the break, the Hornets looked to add to the lead but were not able to. Chindedu Ikem would fire two shots in a row, but the Yellow Jackets keeper would come up with saves. Randolph-Macon would finally breakthrough in the 79
th minute and get on the board with to pull the score to 4-1. However, the Hornets would push the lead back to four goals when
Niclas Vavra scored his first of the season in the 86
th minute on an assist from
Jasson Acosta. In a last-ditch effort, the Yellow Jackets would score in the 90
th minute and the Hornets would hold on to win 5-2.
UP NEXT
The Hornets will now await their fate as they wait for the outcome of the Roanoke vs Averett game scheduled for later tonight. The Hornets will be back in action on Saturday for a quarterfinal matchup with the playoff time, location, and opponent to be determined.
#GoSUHornets
