Monday night’s game against James Madison University ran like a bad sequel for the Rams. The Dukes cruised to a 5-0 victory in the CAA tournament, following up on their regular season win Friday. It was VCU’s first first-round exit since a 4-5 loss to the Dukes in 2002. In both 2004 and 2005, they eliminated JMU from the tournament.
The Dukes were powered by freshman Corkie Julien’s two goals and one assist. While the Rams kept pace in the first half hour of play, they seemed to lose steam after Lindsay Bowers fired the ball far over the goalkeeper’s head for the first goal. While they topped JMU 18-15 on shots, the Rams had only five shots on goal.
VCU’s best chances came back-to-back with about 25 minutes left, with Stephanie Power’s header clanging into the crossbar and Hayley Moorwood’s free kick soaring over the net. The pace intensified in the final 20 minutes, with a shot by one team or the other seemingly every minute.
Unfortunately, only the Dukes were able to convert, adding goals in the 73rd and 75th minutes. Lauren Hardison halted three shots in her 55 minutes between the posts, and Emily Niman made two stops in 19 minutes, including a diving save with 19 minutes left.
The Rams earned two yellow cards during the game, but were only up 12-10 on fouls.
The team was upset with the loss, with players crying and hugging one another. Sullen injured players watched from the stands. After the match, team co-captain Hayley Moorwood said it just didn’t work out Monday night.
“I felt like we started off strong and we dominated,” she said. “There were a couple of lapses, and they got on top of us.”
Even several goals down, “We still managed to try to get one, for pride,” Moorwood said.
Co-head coach Chris Brown said drawing JMU in the 3-6 tournament matchup had advantages, including a fresh vision of their playing style. But the first goal was a turning point.
“It wasn’t a great goal, but it was a back-breaker. It took a lot of wind out of our sail,” he said.
The game followed a tough 3-1 loss in Harrisonburg, a loss at George Mason and a double-overtime 0-0 tie at Towson. The Rams went from 9-1-1 in their previous 11 games to finding themselves tossed out of the tournament unusually early.
The Rams still have a chance to receive a postseason bid, although with their season record, it is not as likely as the previous two seasons that they will actually get it.