Boys Soccer turned around a tough start to the season with a wild, 1-0 win @ Chatham, on Friday, Sept. 22, raising Randolph’s season record to 2-3.
Coming off of a loss against Morris Hills three days earlier, Randolph was ready to add a win to their tally. Being able to do it on Chatham’s notorious Cougar Night,their senior night, made for an even sweeter victory for the Rams.
The last time Randolph played Chatham was in a conference game last year, so the Rams were “very excited for this game,” Co-Captain Connor Rodrigues said, prior to taking to the field. “We took the past two days to regroup and prepare. The boys [were] itching to go back on the field and play their hearts out.”
During the first half of the game, despite a tough fight, both sides remained scoreless.
The second half, however, proved to be what Randolph needed to break through. Junior Bryan Garcia took on a couple of defenders and laid it off to sophomore Robert “RJ” Dougherty. The sophomore played a wonderful pass to senior Luke Wilkins, who scored an impressive goal from outside the box.
Despite amazing encouragement from the Cougars’ student section, with about 20 minutes to go, Chatham could not find a way past the Randolph goalie, sophomore Gavin Vichengrad, so the Rams’ defense claimed the clean sheet.
“It was a crazy game,” Co-Captain Jack Grech said afterward. “The atmosphere their fans brought was crazy. Chatham is a good team, and the game just proved to be a battle. It was truly a game I’ll never forget. We fought so hard ’till the end, and we got the result we wanted. Now we can use this win to propel us forward.”
The Rams will look to continue their winning ways when they host their next conference game against Roxbury on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
