Randolph Soccer beat Mendham, 2-1, on Monday, Oct. 2, at DaSilva field.
“As a team we had times where we moved the ball around well, and we kept our heads up the entire game, even after conceding right after we scored and came out as the better team,” junior Jayden DeCarvalho said.
The game started quickly for both teams as senior Luke Wilkins scored the first goal to give Randolph momentum going into the first half. However, Mendham’s quick offense answered to tie the score at 1-1 in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The rest of the first half was a deep offensive battle, with attempts on both fronts that were ultimately unsuccessful.
“Going into the second half we came out with more intensity and had more of a drive to score,” DeCarvalho continued.
The Rams began the second half aggressively, with impressive offense from sophomore RJ Dougherty, junior David Martinez and seniors Jack Grech and Wilkins.
Sophomore goalie Gavin Vichengrad had an incredible defensive game with help from three defensive players, juniors Jack Lachanski and DeCarvalho and senior Connor Rodrigues.
“The team played with a high intensity the entire game, we all played with passion and showed our style of soccer,” junior Brian Garcia said.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, both fronts became increasingly aggressive, leading to multiple penalties and shooting opportunities for both teams.
With less than thirty seconds left in the game, Rodrigues was tripped by a Minuteman defender, setting up Garcia to score the winning penalty kick.
Randolph held Mendham for the last 20 seconds of the game, winning 2-1 and bringing their winning streak up to four games.
“Mendham has always been a big rival, and they have always wanted to get in my head, but I kept myself calm and scored the PK to seal the game,” Garcia said.
Two days later, the Rams hoped to build on their momentum, but lost @ Delbarton, 2-1, on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The Rams face Sparta next, on Friday, Oct. 13.
