Visiting Randolph-Macon put in two second-half goals to get by the EMU soccer women Wednesday night. The loss drops the Royals to 5-5-1 overall and 2-2-0 in the ODAC, while R-MC improves to 2-4-2 and 1-1-0.
Eastern Mennonite stays home this weekend for an intriguing match with Hampton University. In their second season as a program, the D-I Pirates (2-4-1) will come to Harrisonburg on Saturday for a 1:00pm contest.
EMU controlled the first 15 minutes of play against Randolph-Macon; however, they could only manage a single shot from Laura Rittenhouse (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) in the sixth minute. The Yellow Jackets slowly gained momentum but didn’t get many clean looks. Aided by their willingness to take long-range shots, the visitors had a 12-1 margin in attempts by the break.
Randolph-Macon then struck early in the second, getting an open look from Gabby Nelson on the right side. Keeper Emily Young (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) tried to punch the high shot away, but she couldn’t get enough on it to keep the ball out of the net.
Needing a goal for any hope at overtime, the Royals changed to an attacking formation with 10 minutes to play. But Nelson found gap on the right side again and scored in the 81st minute for the 2-0 margin.
EMU nearly hit the net in the 85th minute. Rittenhouse pushed through three defenders to get in the box, but she couldn’t finish off her close-range shot as R-MC’s keeper got a tip on the attempt to send it wide. The women followed up with a corner kick, but didn’t get a look in their last offensive chance.
The Yellow Jackets finished with a 24-3 shot advantage. Rittenhouse had all three of the women’s attempts. Young picked up seven saves.
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