The Eastern Mennonite Royals men’s soccer team took the field on Saturday, Oct. 9, to take on the Randolph Wildcats on the highly anticipated Rowdy Royals night. Junior Ethan McGee loved the energy that the crowd brought to Rowdy Royals’ night. “The atmosphere was electric. It made playing the game so much more fun, and made the team feel more proud for representing the school that much more.” 

Coming into the game, the Randolph Wildcats brought their unblemished record of 10-0-1 to the Royals turf. The Royals were looking to knock off the Wildcats to capture their first win on the season. The Royals struck first early with a goal from Cole Ours in the 8^th minute taking a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats fought back to tie it up with a goal in the 20^th minute. The game went into halftime with a score of 1-1. Randolph came out in the second half and scored a goal in the 46^th minute to take a 2-1 lead. The Wildcats would end up scoring two more goals later in the game at the 78^th and 80^th minute of the game and taking this match 4-1. 

McGee saw some positive things coming from the Royals despite the loss. “The team battled hard for the entire game. We kept the ball and linked up play really well, and created great opportunities to score. We didn’t get the result that we wanted but there is a lot we can take to our next game, especially the desire and hunger that we showed.” 

Senior Cole Ours was excited about his goal on Rowdy Royals night. “It was exciting to get the go-ahead goal and hear the crowd roar. The atmosphere at home games has been great this year, I just wish we could have come away with the result.” 

Junior Dallas Organek and the Royals defense had an impressive outing in the first half and, for the most part,  the game. “ We did a good job of tracking their two lead goal scorers. We made sure we had someone on them at all times with no room to turn and go to the goal.”. 

Heading into a two-game homestand next week, the Royals will have to make some defensive adjustments. “We have started using a new formation this past week. We are going to try to get a lot of reps in this new formation to become more comfortable with it,” Said Organek. 

The Royals seek their first win going into a two-game homestand this week taking on Ferrum in the mid-week and Washington and Lee on Saturday for Homecoming.