LYNCHBURG, Va. — Senior captain
Justin Lloyd celebrated his 21st birthday in style, scoring Averett's first goal of the contest but the Cougars were unable to hang on, losing 3-2 to non-conference foe Randolph College on Friday night.
Averett (0-2) came out of the gate strong with Lloyd firing a shot past the Wildcats' goalkeeper C.J. Stevens at the 14:50 mark to put the Cougars ahead 1-0. However, Randolph (1-1) found an equalizer 10 minutes later when Blake Heatherly found the back of the net for his first goal of the season, knotting the score at 1-1. The Wildcats were able to push ahead in the 30th minute off Ryan Kyler's first goal of the season, giving Randolph a 2-1 edge.
Not giving up, the Cougars nearly tied the game almost a minute later, but freshman
Ville Hautakangas's shot was saved by Stevens to keep the Wildcats ahead. Minutes later, senior
Jordan Palma delivered a series of shots on goal, but Stevens denied his attempts. Sophomore
Tobias Andreasson had two looks on goal in the 40th minute, however, a little bad luck struck Averett, and Randolph went into the break ahead 2-1.
After a first half full of goals, both teams came out playing solid defense in the second half. However, Randolph's El Hadji beye added to the Wildcats' lead when he found pay dirt for his first goal of the season in the 67th minute, giving Randolph a 3-1 lead. Despite giving up the goal, the Cougars refused to hang their heads, cutting the Wildcats' advantage back down to one with six minutes remaining when Hautakangas fed a ball into Andreasson and Andreasson finished his shot, making the score 3-2. Averett nearly tied the game at the 86:08 mark when Palma fired off an attempt, but it went high, keeping the Cougars down by one.
Averett's offense was sharp all night as it recorded a season-high 16 shots. Andreasson led the way with four attempts, while Hautakangas, Palma and freshman
David Cuperman each chipped in with three.
The Cougars return to action on Sept. 5 when they travel to Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, to battle Hampden-Sydney College in non-conference action at 7 p.m.
