Sports Briefs

MEN’S CROSS
COUNTRY

The Rams took home their first victory of the season at the Greensboro Invitational, winning for the fourth consecutive year. Senior Jay Wyss (Richmond/J.R. Tucker) won the individual title with a time of 26:15. Wyss finished 15 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Wyss had four teammates finish in the top 10. Junior Piotr Dybas (Jaslo, Poland), senior Joey Wingo (Richmond/Lee-Davis), junior Stephen Mutisya (Machakos, Kenya) and senior Tim Rusterholtz (Lewisville, N.C./Forsyth Country Day) finished third, sixth, seventh and tenth respectively.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

The women’s team finished the sweep at the Greensboro Invitational as six runners set personal bests. Leading the Rams was freshman Heather DelaCruz (Williamsburg/Lafayette), who finished fifth with a time of 19:41.9, an improvement of 1:17 over her personal best. Senior Samantha Hendel (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Oceanside) finished sixth with a time of 19:52.8, an improvement of 1:57 over her personal best. Sophomore Genova Washington (Woodbridge/Garfield) beat her personal record by 54 seconds as she finished with a time of 20:15.8. Freshman Nicole Walters (Orange/Orange County) finished 3:02 ahead of previous personal best, running a 20:36.5. Freshman Aubree Washington (Woodbridge/Garfield) improved her time by 23 seconds with a time of 21:16.8. Freshman Christina Costello (Stafford/North Stafford) ran a 21:51.5, improving her time by three seconds.

FIELD HOCKEY

The Rams’ losing streak was pushed to three this past Friday, as the Rams fell in double overtime to Towson 4-3. Sophomore Rosan van Eijkelenburg (Middleburg, Holland/Nehalennia) scored a goal with no time remaining to send the game into overtime. Sophomore Marle van Dessel (Oisterwijk, The Netherlands/Odulphus Lyceum) scored her team-high seventh goal of the season in the first half. Senior Angelina Banaag (Virginia Beach/Green Run) also scored a goal in the second half. Towson’s Kristie Blumer scored the game winning goal about 15 minutes into the second overtime.

MEN’S SOCCER

The Rams’ three-game winning streak was snapped this weekend in a 2-1 loss to George Mason. The loss dropped the Rams to 4-5 on the season. All of the goals were scored in a two-minute span in the second half. George Mason scored first in the 65th minute. Two minutes later, Owusu Sekyere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana/Opoku Ware) scored to even the game up at 1-1. Eighteen seconds later, George Mason scored again to make the game 2-1.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Towson broke the Rams’ four-game winning streak this past Friday in a 1-1 tie. Towson jumped on the Rams in the 74th minute to make it 1-0. Senior Stephanie Power (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia/Dartmouth) answered back three minutes later with a goal to tie the game. Both teams had chances to score in the overtimes but the shots were either wide or were saved the goalkeepers. However, VCU got back to its winning ways and improved its season record to 5-4-1 with a 2-0 victory over George Mason on Sunday. Megan Flanagan (Franktown, Colo./Ponderosa) scored in the 21st minute while Azania (Taboao Da Serra, Brazil/Colegio Aloreda) added an insurance goal in the 88th.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The Rams dropped their conference opener this past Thursday, 3-2 (25-15, 25-23, 23-25, 17-25, 18-16) to William and Mary at the Siegel Center. VCU lost the first two sets and committed 21 errors in the two sets. They won the next two sets and had a 15-14 lead in the fifth set before falling to the Tribe. Sophomore Ariel Newman (Greensboro, N.C./Southern Guilford) had 14 kills and senior Elisa Kuehnel (Dresden, Germany/Sportsgymnasium) added 12 kills of her own. Sophomore Jessica Ojukwu (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Dourado) had 11 kills and three blocks. The loss dropped the Rams to 7-6 and 0-1 in the CAA.