Sports briefs

BASEBALL

Former Rams standout pitcher Cody Eppley earned a promotion this past week, as the Texas Rangers moved him from the Arizona League to Class-A Clinton. Eppley was 2-2 with a 2.10 ERA coming out of the bullpen in Arizona.

CROSS COUNTRY

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the Virginia Tech Relays this past weekend, finishing second and fourth, respectively. Senior Jay Wyss (Richmond/J.R. Tucker) and Stephen Mutisya (Machakos, Kenya) paced the men’s team, combining for a third-place finish with a time of 49:34 in the 4,000-meters. On the women’s side, Melissa Douglas (Spotsylvania/Spotsylvania) and Heather De la Cruz (Williamsburg/Lafayette) combined for an eighth-place finish with a time of 48:48 in the 3,000-meters.

FIELD HOCKEY

The Rams suffered their first loss of the season Saturday afternoon – a 4-2 decision to Davidson. Lindsay Jones (Springfield/West Springfield) opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, but Davidson ran off the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead into halftime. Jones scored again in the 51st minute, but Davidson added another goal late to seal
the deal. The Rams bounced back on Sunday, defeating Radford 5-2 and improving their record to 3-1.

MEN’S SOCCER

With a tropical storm breathing down their necks, the Rams registered their first win of the season Friday night, 3-0 over Bryant College in both teams’ first game of the Nike/Alltel Classic. Jorit Loehr (Bremen, Germany) led the VCU scoring with goals in the 39th and 88th minutes. Owusu Sekyere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana/Opoku Ware) assisted on both goals. Gerson Dos Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/E.E. Ruth Cabral Troncarelli) scored the other VCU goal on a penalty kick shortly before the end of the first half.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The women’s soccer team lost to N.C. State and UNC Greensboro this past weekend in the North Carolina State Invitational, dropping its record to 0-4. The Rams were shutout 1-0 by the Wolfpack, despite out-shooting the host team. Against UNCG, senior Megan Flanagan (Franktown, Colo./Ponderosa) assisted senior Francesca Gioeli (New York, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) in the ninth minute to give the Rams their first goal of the season, and only goal of the game in a 2-1 loss. UNCG scored to even up the game in the 13th minute. The Spartans took the lead in the 64th minute. The Rams had a couple of opportunities to score, but failed on each attempt. Sophomore Laurel Pastor (Springfield/West Springfield) kicked a shot too high and senior Stephanie Power (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia/Dartmouth) had her shot blocked by the UNCG goalkeeper. The Rams next game will be Friday in Baltimore against Loyola.

VOLLEYBALL

After winning two of three matches in the Third Degree Sportswear Invitational, the Rams dropped two of three at the Hurricane Invitational this past weekend, bringing their season record to 3-3. VCU defeated South Dakota State 3-2 (29-31, 25-22, 15-25, 25-18, 18-16) on Friday behind a 15-kill performance from Elisa Kuehnel (Dresden, Germany/Sportsgymnasium) and 20 digs from Laryssa Goncalves (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco). However, Alabama and host Miami both swept the Rams in three games.