VCU fall sports preview

Field hockey

The field hockey team will begin their season in the Connecticut Huskies Classic in Storrs, Conn. on Aug 26 at Conn. The next day, they’ll be playing Monmouth in the second game.

Laura Baker (Kent, England), a sophomore goalkeeper, is returning to the Rams after helping Britain attain a silver medal at the European Junior Nations Field

Hockey Championship.

Coach Shelley Behrens signed eight new players to the team, saying, “This is the best overall American recruiting class we have had here with the VCU field

hockey program.”

Her eight fresh recruits are Ashley Ashton, Cheryl Hart, Lindsay Jones, Rachel Krumm, Amy Rush, Lindsay Shacklette, Vicky Smith and Rebecca Sullivan.

Of the notable recruits, it’s worth checking out Cheryl Hart (Stafford/Colonial Forge H.S.), leading scorer in the Commonwealth Region, with 25 goals. Rachel Krumm (Norfolk, VA/Granby H.S.) is another player bringing potential to the team, having been selected to the USA Field Hockey National Futures Olympic Development Tournament. Also noteworthy is Lindsay Shacklette (Fredericksburg/Stafford H.S.), considered the best player in the state of Virginia as of 2005, and is an Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympian.

Volleyball

After his first year coaching in Division I, James Finley exhibits optimism in regards to the team after giving them their best season in longer than a decade last year, dominating the conference title, and deflowering the Rams with an

NCAA penetration.

The VCU volleyball team will begin its season in Durham, N.C., at the Duke Invitational over the weekend of Aug. 25 and 26. Friday they go up against Gardner-Webb, and on Saturday they will go head-to-head with Marquette and Duke.

Men’s soccer

The men’s soccer team, voted fourth in the CAA preseason poll, will kick off the season hosting Alabama A&M at the Nike/Alltel Classic this weekend at the Sports Backers Stadium. Their next opponent will be Steton Hall at the tail-end of the weekend, on Aug. 27.

The team has won the last three regular-season titles in the CAA, and for the past three years made it into the NCAA as one of the five schools to be a national seed. Head Coach Tim O’Sullivan has high hopes for the Rams who graduated two players into the MLS.

Women’s soccer

Women’s soccer will begin their season at the Florida Atlantic Tournament during the weekend of Aug. 25 and 27. While in Boca Raton, Fla., they will play Stetson first on Friday, and then hosts Florida Atlantic on Sunday.

Wife and husband co-head coaches Denise Schilte-Brown and Chris Brown are returning eight starters from last season’s team who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. For the past two seasons, the women’s soccer team won the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title. The team was rated fourth in the mid-Atlantic region and top of the CAA.