Sports Briefs

FIELD HOCKEY

Ranked opponents shut out the Rams this past Thursday and Sunday. On Thursday, the women lost to eighth-ranked Virginia, 3-0. Virginia’s Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn scored two goals in the game. On Sunday, the women lost to 17th-ranked Rutgers, 4-0. The pair of losses dropped the Rams to 4-4 for the season. The Rams next play at Towson Friday night at 7 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER

This past Sunday, the Rams shutout Coastal Carolina 4-0. Senior Gerson Dos Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/E.E. Cabral Ruth Troncarelli) finished the game with two goals and an assist. Both of the goals by Dos Santos came within the first 15 minutes of the game. In the second half, junior Jake Van Yahres (Charlottesville/American) scored a goal in the 47th minute. In the 56th minute, senior David Rosenbaum (Washington, D.C./Woodrow Wilson) scored the fourth and final VCU goal. The win improved VCU’s season record to 4-3. The Rams’ next game will be at George Mason Saturday night at 7 p.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

This past Friday, the Rams defeated Wofford 5-1. VCU jumped on Wofford early as junior June Hartman (Virginia Beach/Tallwood) scored her second goal of the season in the sixth minute. Senior Megan Flanagan (Franktown, Colo./Ponderosa) scored two goals in the game. Senior Stephanie Power (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia/Dartmouth) scored a goal and assisted on three other goals. Sophomore Laurel Pastor (Springfield/West Springfield) added to the scoring with a goal in the 80th minute.

This past Sunday the women beat Navy 3-1. Hartman scored the first goal for the Rams in the 22nd minute. Navy answered four minutes later with a goal of its own. Power put the Rams ahead four minutes into the second half with a goal. In the 78th minute, Flanagan scored the final VCU goal. Paige Pierson (Sterling/Park View) got a red card with less than 12 minutes left in the game.

The two wins over the weekend gave VCU four straight wins and improved their record to 4-4. The Rams next game will be Friday against Towson at SportsBackers Stadium at 7 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

The Rams improved their season record to 7-5 over the weekend by winning 2 of 3 games in the Pitt Invitational, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. VCU knocked off Eastern Michigan 3-1 (25-15, 25-23, 21-25, 25-14) and beat Gonzaga 3-2 (24-26, 25-22, 25-15, 16-25, 15-4) before falling to the host 3-1 (23-25, 20-25, 25-16, 16-25). Elisa Kuehnel (Dresden, Germany/Sportsgymnasium) had a team-high 12 kills while Laryssa Goncalves (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) had 26 digs in the win over EMU while Ariel Newman (Greensboro, N.C./Southern Guilford) had a game-high 17 kills in the win over Gonzaga. Newman had 13 kills and Lenka Maricharkova (Zlin, Czech Republic) had 11 digs in the loss to Pittsburgh.