MEN'S SOCCER STUN THE BADGERS

Johnson, VT: The Vermont State University Randolph Men's Soccer team traveled to play the Badgers of Vermont State University Johnson Friday in their season opener. Coming off of a winless season a year ago, many questioned how the new look Knights would perform. Well... at 7:40pm last night one question was answered. It will not be a winless season as Randolph stunned Johnson on the road to advance to 1-0 for the first time in 7 seasons.

After a great defensive battle in the first half VTSU Johnson's Logan Ingalls capatilized on a penalty kick to give the Badgers 1-0 lead 29 minutes into the game. The Knights continued their great defensive efforts but trailed going into half time. " I felt really bad for my guys because we competed so hard and to give up a point on a penatly kick is tough" said first year head coach Rob Labate. Labate continued " I felt really good about where we were at. I told the guys, we never been here before and it's up to us whether we would simply take the field or STEP UP onto the field." The Knights clearly chose the step up route as they continued their fierce defense. Ethan Blouin of the Knights had a career day scoring 2 goals within 5 minutes to give VTSUR a 2-1 lead at 64:03 mark. He would score 1 more goal and add a penalty kick. "Ethan is really good for us. He has a good feel for the game and he was in the right places at the right time." Labate said. "Ethan will get credit for the goals but his goals were a team effort. Everyone on the field made sacrifices to put Ethan in a position to cash in. It was a great team effort." The Knights would surrender a goal late in the 88th minute, but held on for a 4-2 win.

The Knights will start conference play Sunday as they will host Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Science. The game will be held at the Castleton campus.

Coach Labate on the win

We haven't really practiced on a full soccer field due to our field not being ready because of the rain. Finding places on campus to practice and even using to gym has been the norm this preseason. Our defense and effort was key to helping us stay in the game until we got used to playing on a full field. I thought in the 2nd half we found a rhythm offensively and made some good things happen. The message to the team is to take it one game at a time. Yesterday was yesterday and tomorrow is tomorrow. Conference play starts tomorrow and we have to be ready because it will be a challenge.