Point-counterpoints: Rams come from behind to down Cavs

Three total shots on goal for VCU all yielded scores as the Rams beat the Virginia Cavaliers 3-1 Saturday.

“We needed three shots on goal, and we scored three times-that’s soccer,” said Jorit Loehr (Bremen, Germany), who netted the game-winning goal in the second half.

The Rams lost to Wake Forest and North Carolina, – both ACC foes like Virginia – earlier this season in matches that coach O’Sullivan said his team played well. Against those teams, according to O’Sullivan, the Rams didn’t put away their chances.

“Tonight, we put away our chances,” O’Sullivan said.

Physicality dictated the tempo throughout the 90 minutes. The Rams and Cavaliers combined for 50 fouls and six yellow cards.

“It was a really gutsy performance that we worked extremely hard for,” O’Sullivan said.

A foul by Michael Denkewitz (Bremen, Germany) in the 39th minute led to a penalty kick for Virginia. Tony Tchani made good by beating Andrew Dykstra (Woodbridge/Osbourn Park) to the upper-right part of the net to break the scoreless tie.

The Rams retaliated less than five minutes later. Gerson Dos Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/E.E. Ruth Cabral Troncarelli) gathered a loose ball in the 18-yard box and fed a dribbling pass to Evan Slusser (Prince George/Prince George), who tied the match with his first career goal.

“I saw Gerson holding the ball, and that’s when I started making my way in,” Slusser said. “I saw it building, and he gave me the perfect feed, and I couldn’t do anything but score.”

VCU had just five first-half shots-only one of those was on goal. Virginia was on-target multiple times but was unable to find the back of the net before the penalty kick.

The Cavaliers’ first close call came in the 10th minute when Dykstra dove to fend off a Tchani shot, and Jonathan Villanueva hit the crossbar on the follow-up. Then, Matt Mitchell lofted the ball just over the goal. Later, Dykstra made a sliding save against Villanueva, who waited too long to pull the trigger. When Dykstra was sprawled on the ground, the Cavaliers didn’t capitalize again.

“There were times where I thought Virginia had us on the ropes. We bent a little bit, but we didn’t break,” O’Sullivan said.

Dykstra saved a season-high eight shots against the Rams’ third ACC opponent this season.

“We love playing (ACC) schools . the fast-pace game is fun to play,” Dykstra said.

Both teams had fewer opportunities in the second half. The Cavaliers continued to miss their shots narrowly, but the Rams took advantage of theirs. Dos Santos found Loehr on a corner kick in the 76th minute to assist on Loehr’s third goal of the season.

“In the first half, we had some problems (finding scoring opportunities), but we fought through the whole game,” Loehr said. “It’s just great that I could score the second goal and help the team achieve the win.”

Virginia brought up goalkeeper Dan Louisignau to make a final push with under a minute to play. The ball was cleared from VCU’s end, and David Rosenbaum (Washington/Woodrow Wilson) took it the rest of the way to score with two seconds on the clock.

A regular-season record 1,853 fans packed SportsBackers Stadium to see the match. VCU, 2-3-0, has won three of its last four matches with Virginia since 2001 after going winless against the Cavaliers in the previous 19.

“It’s a good game to score,” said Slusser, who grew up a Cavaliers fan. “It feels so good to beat them.”