Season Opener Slips Away for Highlanders at William & Mary

Sunday, August 23

Williamsburg, VA

6:00 PM

Radford University

0-1-0, 0-0-0

William & Mary

1-1-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Radford	1	0	1
William & Mary	1	3	4

radford mens' soccer and Radford in Radford, Va., (AP Photo/Robert Simmons)

Photo by: Robert Simmons/RTS Photography

Season Opener Slips Away for Highlanders at William & Mary

8/23/2026 8:32:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

RADFORD, Va. – The Radford men's soccer program started Sunday's season opener strong, but a trio of second half goals by William & Mary saw the Highlanders drop their 2026 season opener in a 4-1 final.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Hugo Roman netted the Highlanders first goal of the season, also his first goal at the Division I level.
Freshman Bryce Paige tagged the assist on Roman's goal, his first at the collegiate level.
Through the opening half, Radford led the shot battle 8-5 and corners 6-4. In the second half, the Tribe doubled their shot output to tie the Highlanders by the match's end 16-16.
Just five of the Highlanders' shots would come on target, compared to the opposition's eight.
After no bookings in the first, the two squads combined for three in the second half including a pair by William & Mary in the final five minutes.

PLAY BY PLAY
Radford began the match storming their opponent's side of the field as the squad quickly tallied five of the first six shots of the game. A pair of those shots came from Brice Hall, one on goal, with the freshman finishing with four shots overall by the match's end. The Tribe would break that Highlander pressure, though, as their second shot of the game found nylon and gave them the 1-0 lead in the 26th minute.

The Tribe continued to pressure with an offsides and one shot on goal, saved by Ben Miller. Radford would find the equalizer just before the half came to a close in the 45th minute. With just seconds remaining, Roman scored Radford's first goal of the season thanks to an assist from Paige to lock the score at 1-1.

Paige would look to get Radford out front right away in the second half with a shot that went high in the 47th minute. It was the Tribe, however, who would pull back ahead with a goal in the 52nd minute. The tides of the match were flipped as William & Mary controlled most of the scoring with two more goals in the 66th and 79th minutes. The deficit proved too much to overcome, and Radford would fall in the 4-1 final.

UP NEXT
Radford will get just about a week to regroup before taking on their home opener this upcoming Saturday, August 29th against James Madison. Action is set to kick off against the Dukes at 7:00 p.m. at Tom Lillard Field at Cupp Stadium, streaming 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).

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