Men’s Soccer Wins 4-2 Thriller Over UNC Asheville

Sunday, October 18

Radford, Va.

4:00 PM

Radford University

4-7-3, 1-3-1

UNC Asheville

9-4-1, 3-2-0

Team	1	2	Final F
UNC Asheville	1	1	2
Radford	2	2	4

Photo by: Rob Simmons

Men’s Soccer Wins 4-2 Thriller Over UNC Asheville

10/18/2026 7:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

RADFORD, Va. – The Radford men's soccer program closed out their regular season at home Sunday afternoon in thrilling fashion, upending UNC Asheville in a 4-2 final.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

The four goals were a single-game high for the Highlanders this season and their most in a match since March 4th, 2020 against VMI.
Noel Zimbeva secured a brace, his first this season, moving his team lead for goals scored to seven.
Unique goal scorers continue to step up for Radford as Carson Danner opened the scoring to be the 11th different Highlander to net a goal this season.
Ben Miller played a large role in the victory with multiple key saves. Facing eight shots on goal he would record six saves.
The Highlanders also out shot the Bulldogs by a 19-14 margin with ten of their shots coming on target.

COACH CORMACK QUOTABLE
"Today we played a very, very good and well coached UNC Asheville team and they're going to go very far this year. They're a very physical team and I'm so proud of how our guys faced that challenge. The scoreline is one thing but if you look at the chances we had, we were very good in transition today. I've said over and over in the past that with this young team we've had our opportunities to win a game and tonight we finally got that."

PLAY BY PLAY
Setting the stage for an exciting match was a busy start on both ends for the Highlanders. In the opening minutes Jayce Pagano and Brice Hall had the first Highlanders' shots blocked but the team would quickly follow with the opening goal after two of the Bulldogs' shots were also blocked.

After a corner bounced around in the box, Zimbeva got a shot off that ricocheted off the post. Danner collected that shot and finished the job for his first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

The Highlanders initially made some good defensive saves to keep their lead in tact, but the Bulldogs struck back in the 30th minute to even the match at 1-1. Radford went back to work and didn't wait long to pull back ahead.

In the 32nd minute the Highlanders executed some great ball control to get the ball to an open Zimbeva for the lead. Mauricio Jimenez found Skyler Denny open in the middle of the box who headed it to the far end of the box. Zimbeva was right there ready and struck with ease for the 2-1 lead.

That margin held until halftime but wasn't without some pressure. Ben Miller would make one particularly great save with just a few minutes left in the half off a strong strike from the Bulldogs. Out of the break Radford kept the pressure on, including multiple good looks by Dax Booth, but the lead remained at 2-1 until the 70th minute when UNC Asheville found an equalizer.

As they had done in the first half, the Highlanders immediately responded. Carter McClain got a break away opportunity before a foul in the box gave Radford a penalty kick opportunity. Zimbeva took the shot and completed his brace with the eventual game-winner.

The match was still a long ways from being won, though, as Radford's defense buckled down for the remaining 16 minutes. UNC Asheville had a pair of dangerous looks late, but Miller was right there to snuff both of them out. Brice Hall put a bow on the winning effort as he took a deep pass from Jayce Pagano to score the final goal of the match in the 90th minute for the 4-2 final.

UP NEXT
The final stretch of the regular season comes with two straight road matches for the Highlanders. The first of those two trips comes on Saturday, October 24th as the team visits High Point for a 7:00 p.m. start on ESPN+.

STAY SOCIAL WITH RADFORD MEN'S SOCCER
For all the latest on Radford men's soccer, be sure to follow the team on X (@RadfordMSOC), Instagram (@radfordmsoc), and "like" the team's official Facebook Page (Radford Men's Soccer).

#RiseAndDefend