Rams begin hunt for College Cup

VCU’s men’s soccer team will make its third straight run at an NCAA championship starting Monday at 7 p.m. against George Washington at Sports Backers Stadium.

The Rams lost 1-0 to eventual Colonial Athletic Association champion Hofstra in the second round of the conference tournament. They still managed to earn a 16 seed and a first-round bye from the tournament selection committee.

The team will be playing on 11 days rest, while George Washington is coming off a 1-0 win over North Carolina last Friday.

GW ripped through the Atlantic 10, going 9-0-1 in their past 10 games after starting the season 1-8-3. The Colonials outscored their opponents 22-5 during that stretch. A 1-1 tie with Duquesne in the A-10 tournament broke up a streak of four straight shutouts for goalkeeper Derek Biss.

The Rams are 2-2-1 in their past five games and have battled injuries for most of the season.

Defender Ricardo Valverde and midfielders Simone Toselli and Evan Morris are all out with season-ending injuries.

VCU’s 31 goals were good for fourth in the CAA, but the team hasn’t scored in its past 212 minutes of play since junior Dominic Oduro booted in the game-winning goal on the road against Towson on Oct. 31.

Oduro led the conference with 13 goals and scored in 10 of the Rams’ 17 games. The Rams are 7-2-1 when he scores compared to 4-3-1 when he can’t find the net.

The Rams beat Virginia Tech 5-2 in their first game of the College Cup last year, then lost 5-0 to Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.