VIRGINIA BEACH -- Saturday's Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's soccer championship game is a story of a team with an established tradition against a team trying to generate tradition.

Virginia Wesleyan College (15-4-1), which has won nine ODAC men's soccer titles since joining the league in 1989, will face Randolph College (17-1-1), which won the ODAC title in 2011, it's only prior appearance in the championship game.  VWC will be playing in the big game for the 16th time.  Competition begins at WildCats Stadium at 7 p.m.  There will not be an admission charge.

Despite a sincere effort to secure a fan bus for Virginia Wesleyan, transportation will not be able to be provided.  Marlin fans unable to attend the game in person, can follow all of the action through live stats and video at the following link: http://www.randolphwildcats.com/sports/msoc/2013-14/schedule 

Saturday's contest will mark the second for Virginia Wesleyan to visit the WildCats' field. Randolph posted a 4-1 victory in that Sept. 28th game, but alot has changed for the Marlins since that loss. Put simply, Virginia Wesleyan caught fire.

The Marlins, seeded No. 2 in the tournament, have put together a 9-1-1 since that time and are riding an eight-game winning streak, the longest of the season.  During that streak VWC pinned the first loss of the season on Washington and Lee University, defeated defending ODAC champion Roanoke College on the Maroons' field, and won twice against Lynchburg College, the only team to defeat No. 1 seeded Randolph this season.

Smart, aggressive defensive play sparked by senior Reid Peterson (Virginia Beach/Salem), junior Brandon St. Amour (Stafford/Mountain View), sophomore Brian Le (Springfield/West Springfield), and rookie Jordan Petitt (Springfield/West Springfield), has been crucial to the success.  Sophomore goalie Connor Kirkham (Centreville/Chantilly Westfield) anchors that "D" with a 1.08 goals against average

Another factor to the run has been balanced scoring, and timely scoring.  Different Marlin players have stepped up in crucial situations to score game-changing goals. Examples: Isaac Arrington (DeSoto, Texas/Midlothian) scored twice in 13 minutes in the second half to help send VWC to a 4-2 semifinal win over Lynchburg; Kyle Fisher (Virginia Beach/Landstown) came through with an OT game-winning goal against Bridgewater College and the game-winner against Washington and Lee; and Josh Kemp (Frisco, Texas/Addision Trinity Christian) scored the game-winner in double overtime at Roanoke.

Ten Marlins have knocked in a goal so far this season, led by senior Brian Cornell (Front Royal/Warren County) and Fisher with nine each, Kemp with seven, Arrington with six, and sophomore Travis Walke (Virginia Beach/Landstowne) with five.  Cornell has also recorded seven assists and leads scoring overall with 25 points.

Randolph is led by Corey Sindle (Gloucester/Gloucester), who has scored 16 goals, John Adams (Lynchburg/E.C. Glass), who has added nine, and Jacob Lusczek (Fredericksburg/Chancellor), with six.  Adams has been most consistent for the 'Cats in recent games, scoring at least one goal in four the last six outings. Goalie Carter Smith (Greensboro, N.C./Grimsley) owns a 0.63 GAA for the WildCats, who have recorded 10 shutouts this season.

VWC and Randolph are currently ranked as the top two teams in the ODAC in shots, goals, assists, and points.

The winner of Saturday's game receives the ODAC's automatic berth in the upcoming NCAA Division III national championship tournament.  The loser will have to hope for an at-large berth.  Pairing for the tournament will be announced at 1 p.m. on Monday on NCAA.com.

--AMDG--