Sports Briefs

Two Rams advance at U.Va. Invitational

Rams men’s tennis juniors Sergi Arumi (Barcelona, Spain) and Arnaud LeCloerec (Plouhlnec, France) won first round matches at the Virginia Invitational Friday.

In Flight A singles, Arumi topped Western Michigan’s Brady Crosby 6-4, 6-1, while LeCloerec scorched North Carolina State’s Ben Zink 6-1, 6-3.

Second round singles play, as well as first round doubles play, took place Saturday.

Women’s soccer opens CAA season with a win

Leigh Anthony (Fairfax) scored the game-winning goal nearly 12 minutes into the second half Saturday to give the Rams a 2-1 victory over James Madison in the CAA opener ending VCU’s scoring drought.

The Rams, who raised their overall record to 2-3-3, had not tallied a goal in their previous three games.

Shelley Lyle (Tampa, Fla.) tied the game when she netted Sandra Anger’s (Cuguen, France) corner kick about three minutes into the second half.

Sophomore Lauren Hardison (Midlothian/Clover Hill High School) made two saves for the Rams, who were also able to avenge a loss to the Dukes last season by the same score. They take on cross-town rival Richmond Spiders 7 p.m. Monday at Sports Backers Stadium.

Men’s soccer drops two games in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Sophomore midfielder Matthijs Maruanaya (Alkmaar, Netherlands) scored two second-half goals Friday, but it was not enough to win. Coastal Carolina rallied to beat VCU 4-3 in overtime in the first game of the Coastal Carolina/Adidas Invitational.

Maruanaya’s second goal, assisted by Dominic Oduro (Accra, Ghana), gave the Rams a 3-2 lead with less than 20 minutes to play. Joseph Kabwe scored for the Chanticleers to tie the score six minutes later.

Kabwe struck again in overtime, scoring the game-winner in the 99th minute to drop the Rams.

David Stannard (Midlothian/Clover Hill High School) scored the first goal of the game for the Rams, who led 1-0 at the half.

In Sunday’s game, Brown scored a pair of first-half goals and kept the Rams off the scoreboard for the 2-0 victory to drop the Rams to 2-6-0.

The Rams open CAA-play Friday, playing 7 p.m. at George Mason.

Volleyball falls to Hofstra, finds first conference win over Northeastern

Hofstra defeated VCU in three tough games (30-26, 30-21, 30-25) as Pride coach Fran Kalafer became the 12th person to win 600 career matches Friday.

Renata Salvatori (Londrina, Brazil) led the Rams with 10 kills, and Ludmilla Francescatto (Fraiburga, Brazil) added 16 digs and eight kills.

The Pride stayed unbeaten in the CAA, while VCU dropped its fifth match in a row.

VCU ended the losing streak when they traveled to Boston to play Northeastern Sunday however, winning 3-1. The Rams had four players with double-digit kills, led by Elisa Kuehnel’s (Dresden, Germany) 15 and Salvatori’s 12. Cat Juson (Long Beach, Calif.) posted 51 assists, while Griselle Lopez Pereira (Caguas, Puerto Rico) led the road squad with 19 digs.

The Rams improved to 7-8 over all with the victory, and host CAA-rivals James Madison Friday and George Mason Sunday.

Field hockey blanks Radford, drops CAA opener

A pair of freshmen propelled the Rams to a 1-0 victory over Radford Friday. Heather McCannon (Lanexa/Lafayette High School) scored the lone goal of the game, and Laura Baker (Kent, England) registered her first career shutout as the Rams improved to 3-3-0. McCannon’s goal came with under 16 minutes left to play for the Rams, who won their second game in a row and third in four games.

VCU played their conference opener at William and Mary Sunday with a 2-0 loss. The Tribe shot ahead quickly with two goals in the first four minutes of play, and the Rams were unable to get the offense going enough to respond. The Rams (3-5) host Delaware 7 p.m. Friday and travel to James Madison 1 p.m. Sunday.