by Brian Hoffman
The Roanoke College men’s soccer team will open the Old Dominion Athletic Conference soccer tournament on Saturday but the Maroons weren’t sure where they would be playing, or against whom, at press time.
The top four seeds in the tournament will have quarterfinal home games on Saturday and as of press time the Maroons were tied for fourth. Washington & Lee was leading the ODAC with a 7-0-2 conference mark while Lynchburg was second at 7-1-1 and Virginia Wesleyan was sitting at 5-1-3. Roanoke and Bridgewater were tied for fourth at 5-3-1 so they’ll likely play each other with the home site to be determined this week. Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon were tied for sixth at 3-4-2, so neither one could catch Roanoke or Bridgewater. The tournament runs from this Saturday until the championship game on November 5th. Saturday’s winners advance to the semifinals on November 2nd.
The Maroons were scheduled to wrap up the regular season on Wednesday at Bridgewater. Roanoke was 7-6-2 overall after dropping a 2-1 non-conference decision to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia last Wednesday, October 26. The Maroons lost despite outshooting the host Eagles in the second half.
Down 2-0, the Maroons got on the board just 1:15 into the second half when Anthony Zarlenga took a deflected pass off an Emory defender on the far side of a corner-kick and fired it passed the goalkeeper to bring RC back within one. However, the Eagles played a defensive game the rest of the way and held on for the win. Zach Behe played all 90 minutes in goal for the Maroons, making five saves.
