MEN'S SOCCER RESILIENT IN 4-3 OT WIN OVER WAKE TECH

PETERSBURG, Va., (Sept. 2, 2015) – The Richard Bland College men's soccer team weathered two game delays due to lightning threats in the area, and fought off a pesky Wake Technical Community College team to register a see-saw 4-3 overtime victory on Wednesday evening in Conference X action at Statesmen Field. The game was stopped with three minutes remaining in overtime due to a recurrence of lighting.

Neither the tempestuous skies above nor the resiliency of Wake Tech could dampen a gutsy performance by the Statesmen, who battled throughout in a game that featured three lead changes and an extra session before a victor was decided. A red card handed down to a Wake player in overtime presented the Statesmen with a huge opening -- playing a man up -- and the home team took full advantage.

In the end, freshman back Rodrigo Carvalho (Lisbon, Portugal/Quinta do Marques) notched the game winning goal 5:30 into overtime off a corner kick initiated by freshman winger Carlos Cason (Richmond, VA/J.R. Tucker). It was the hustling play of Cason, a 5-foot-1 dynamo, who provided Richard Bland with an abundance of energy throughout the game. Not to be overlooked was a two goal performance by freshman forward Sukrija Dudic (Srebrenica, Bosnia Hercegovina/Hermitage) who tallied one goal in each half.  

Richard Bland ends a modest two-game losing streak and improves to 4-2, 2-2 on the season. Wake Tech drops to 0-3, 0-2. The Statesmen next travel to Wilmington, N.C. on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. Conference X contest against Cape Fear Community College. Wake Tech plays its third straight road game on Saturday, visiting the University of South Carolina Salkenatchie at 2:00 p.m. 

Wake Tech broke out on top first, getting the game's first goal 20 minutes into play from freshman forward Patrick Ross. Dudic evened the score with five minutes until halftime, taking advantage of stellar defensive play from sophomore captain Adam Belkorchi (Manassas, VA/Osbourn Park), whose sliding tackle off a Wake player jettisoned the ball to Dudic's feet for the first of his two goals. "Sukrija's goal put a fire to our team," said head coach Eduardo de Souza, "and got us going offensively and playing harder."

The tally worked like a charm for the Statesmen. With just 30 seconds before halftime, freshman winger Bryce Deitrich (Farmville, VA/Prince Edward) fed fellow freshman winger Leonard Oballa (Nairobi, Kenya/Aquinas) with a nifty feed to push Richard Bland ahead 2-1.

Wake evened the proceedings 2-2 at the 28 minute mark of the second half off a goal by sophomore center Ahmed Ziao. But Dudic notched another inspiring goal, pushing the Statesmen ahead 3-2 five minutes later off an assist from freshman defender Calvin Sanford (Miami, FL/McLean). Wake Tech's Ross notched his second goal – which ultimately forced overtime – with just under two minutes to play.

"This game had a little of everything," said de Souza. "Every game has a story. Every game is different and every game is difficult. I was pleased that we were able to dominate in the overtime, but Wake Tech gave us a great game. We were able to work through it, remain resilient and keep countering with goals."