First-seeded Randolph Girls Soccer suffered a devastating loss to second-seeded Chatham, 3-1,  in the Morris County Tournament finals on Saturday, Oct. 21.

The first half started off with promise. In the first 10 minutes, junior Rylie Van Wingerden intercepted a pass from the defense and scored. Chatham soon counterattacked with a goal off a through ball and a second goal off a corner kick, leading them into the half with a 2-1 score. 

The second half started off with a quick goal from Chatham, giving them a 3-1 lead. Randolph continued to play defensively but sadly, ended with a 3-1 loss. 

 “We had a hard-fought battle in the game, but the morale dropped at halftime, so the second half was rough,” senior Co-Captain Rayna Soto said. “Even though we lost, I’m still proud of the whole team for fighting all the way until the end, making it to the county finals and still having a great attitude after the loss.” 

Randolph worked hard in every way on the field, with junior Goalkeeper Kate Sullivan and junior Midfielder Cora Kim showing excellent efforts. 

 “We are so proud of the team for working so hard to make it to the county finals,” Head Coach Kimberly Bradley commented. “We played tough against a very talented team, and although we didn’t get the result we wanted, we still need to reflect on how far we’ve come and what we’ve already accomplished. We still have a lot to fight for, and we are going to finish our season strong.” 

The team comes off of this hard loss to play Montville, in the first round of the State Tournament, today, Thursday, Oct. 26, at DaSilva Field.