EMORY, Va. - The Virginia Wesleyan College Men's Soccer Team (3-5-1, 2-2 ODAC) was able to hold off a pair of rallies by Emory & Henry College (2-9-1, 0-3-1 ODAC) as it went on to win, 4-2, Friday evening at Fred Selfe Stadium.
The Marlins' Brian Cornell tallied a hat trick in the contest en route to the victory.
Virginia Wesleyan got on the board 91 seconds into the match as Cornell took a shot from 25 yards out that beat the goalkeeper for a 1-0 score. Cornell added his second goal at the 11:05 mark as he dribbled down the end line and finished to the near post.
The Wasps got a goal to cut the lead to 2-1 late in the 24th minute. Senior midfielder Will Bodfish (Morganton, N.C.) served a ball from the right side that found the head of sophomore midfielder James Ballamy (Worthing, West Sussex, ENGLAND), who put it in the net. The score would remain 2-1 for the rest of the first half.
After the break, the Marlins added to their score just 1:23 into the second half. Josh Kemp took the ball through the box and finished past the goalkeeper to make the score 3-1.
Emory & Henry got a goal four minutes later (50:23) as freshman defender Tory Schneider (Williamsburg, Va.) converted a penalty kick after a foul that saw a VWC defender receive a red card.
With 25:18 remaining, Cornell completed his three-goal performance, this time taking a pass from Chris Cook in front of the goal face to give the Marlins their 4-2 margin.
Virginia Wesleyan had 18 shots compared to just six for Emory & Henry and held a 12-1 advantage on corner kicks.
Jake Burtch picked up the win in goal for the Marlins, while E&H freshman Tim Coulter (Mooresville, N.C.) made six saves despite the loss.
Emory & Henry will travel to Greensboro, N.C., on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m., Old Dominion Athletic Conference match with Guilford College.
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