By Brian Hoffman
The Roanoke College men made it all the way to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference finals before falling to Washington & Lee in the championship game Saturday. The Maroons fell 2-1 in Lexington to end heir season at 10-7-2.
Roanoke was the number four seed entering the contest but beat Bridgewater, 1-0, in the quarterfinal round and Hampden-Sydney, 2-0, in the semifinals. That set up a meeting with W&L for the championship. The second seeded Generals beat Guilford in the quarterfinals, 7-0, and Virginia Wesleyan in the semis, 6-1.
On Saturday in Lexington a goal with less than a minute left allowed Washington & Lee to sneak by the Maroons, giving the Generals the ODAC automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Saturday’s championship was close to the end. After a scoreless first half W&L got on the board in the 7th minute on a goal by Weyimi Agbeyyegbe. Harrison Kraus scored the equalizer for the Maroons at 83:46 off a pass on the right side of the goal from Till Pfleging. Kraus’ shot was fired right to left along the bottom of the goal to pull Roanoke even with less than seven minutes left.
With just 40 seconds left in the game, W&L scored the heartbreaking goal to win the tournament. Zach Behe finished the game with four saves, playing all 90 minutes in goal for the Maroons.
W&L and Lynchburg will be representing the ODAC in the NCAA Division III tournament this week. The Generals will meet Brevard and the Hornets will take on Catholic University at Christopher-Newport University in Newport News, VA this Saturday.
