Rams ‘survive’ first two CAA games

New Mexico head coach Jeremy Fishbein said earlier this season that VCU’s men’s soccer team had better get used to being pushed around.

His team bullied the Rams for more than 95 minutes, and won 2-1. The only way to deal with the Rams’ speed, he said, is to take advantage of their lack of size and aggressiveness.

It’s been six games, and the Rams are still dealing with it.

They battled from behind on Friday, scoring a pair of second-half goals to beat William & Mary 2-1 on Friday. Two days later, they held on to beat Old Dominion 3-1 on Sunday, even with Monarchs tugging at their jerseys and shoving them to the grass.

“We’re a tough team,” said goalkeeper and team captain Saul Montero. “We’re going to do what we need to do to win. We’d rather just play, but we’ll crash and all that if we have to.”

But at a price.

Overcoming a one-goal deficit in the final 30 minutes of Friday night’s game against the Tribe had the Rams reeling coming in to Sunday’s game with Old Dominion.

“Both teams were tired today,” said Rams head coach Tim O’Sullivan after beating Old Dominion. “We expended a lot of energy Friday night. You know this is a bit costly for us.”

In the 90 minutes of banging with the Monarchs (0-2-0 CAA, 5-3-1) four Rams hit the sidelines with injuries. Ricardo Opoku outran two ODU defenders and scored his second goal of the season, but tweaked his knee.

Ricardo Valverde twisted his knee, too, when he planted it the wrong way in the second half. Junior Veit Schaidinger took an elbow to the head and, just three minutes into the second half, midfielder Stephen Shirley left the field with a concussion after colliding with a Monarchs defender on a 50/50.

Shirley, who earlier in the game assisted Gonzalo Segares’ third goal of the season, laid on the grass for about five minutes after being knocked unconscious.

“It was very tough to play two very good teams andtwo physically strong teams back to back,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s what I really don’t like about this conference setup.”

Still, O’Sullivan said, the team “found a way to survive.”

VCU never trailed Old Dominion on Sunday. The team took the lead early on Segares’s goal. Junior Mike Aust made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute, weaving through two ODU defenders firing a shot from about 16 yards out.

After the break early in the second half for Shirley, Old Dominion’s David Horst scored the Monarchs’ only goal of the game.

A ball that Montero had probably scooped up a million times before for the Rams slipped right through his hands and found its way to the back of the net. It was the ninth goal Montero allowed this season.

“Overconfidence,” Montero said, explaining how he misjudged the ball’s funny hop. “I wasn’t set, and it just hit my left arm and went in.”

With the Rams clinging to a two-goal lead in the second half, Montero redeemed himself by blocking a penalty kick by ODU’s leading scorer Kevon Harris for his 22nd save of the season.

“I don’t think that’s a mistake on Saul. I mean, Saul, shoot, he saved a penalty. He made some really good saves. You have to write that one off and move on.”

After fighting to get past through their first weekend of CAA play, the Rams have to prepare for their first road trip on their conference schedule-at James Madison (2-0-0, 9-0-1) on Friday, then at George Mason (2-0-0, 6-3-1) on Sunday.

O’Sullivan said that earlier in the season his team wasn’t prepared to do the “dirty work” needed to win games. But after pushing and shoving all season, he said he’s seen the team’s mentality change. Players like Saul Montero, who returned the shoves of several Monarch defenders, are ready for the rough games.

“If the game turns that way then we’re ready to do it,” Montero said. “We’re not bowing to anyone.”