Rams blank rival Monarchs

After two home losses and a pair of draws on the road, the VCU Rams appeared to be lacking the swagger they carried in September and early October.

“We were struggling a little bit, to be quite honest with you, with our confidence,” said head coach Tim O’Sullivan.

The Rams got their mojo back in a big way Wednesday night.

Sophomore C.J. Gehin-Scott (Chesapeake/Hickory) knocked a laser shot into the top right-hand corner of the net in the 48th minute and senior goalie Andrew Dykstra (Woodbridge/Osbourn Park) made eight saves to give VCU a 1-0 victory over rival Old Dominion, and improved the Rams’ chances of earning a spot in the CAA Tournament.

After struggling to control the ball in the first half, a change of philosophy enabled the Rams to move the ball forward in the second. The coaching staff decided to move Jorit Loehr (Bremen, Germany) up top in order to get a handle on play in the middle and make crisp passes. The change paid off quickly as Loehr out-played a pair of ODU defenders at the top of the 18-year box and found Gehin-Scott for the winning score.

“The whole point of putting him up top was to win balls like that,” Gehin-Scott said.

The score was tied at halftime, but the Monarchs dominated the flow of the game in the first half. The Monarchs recorded 10 shots in the first half, including seven on goal. VCU was able to move the ball between the 18-yard boxes, but was unable to get inside. Old Dominion, however, had a multitude of shots that were knocked away by Dykstra.

The Monarchs had a break away opportunity in the third and 21st minutes, but the first was saved by Dykstra and the other cleared away by the VCU defense at the last second. ODU also had three corner kicks in the first half while VCU had none. The Rams were only able to record two shots, neither of which was on goal.

“Everything’s connected. Our defending is connected to going forward and we were disjointed in the first half,” O’Sullivan said.

The second half was a different story thanks to improved defense and Loehr’s positioning on top. The Monarchs only recorded three shots in the second half – one on goal – while the Rams had seven, with the only shot on goal being Gehin-Scott’s score.

With the win, VCU improved to 4-3-2 in the CAA and 8-6-2 overall. More importantly, the win also places the Rams back in the top six of the standings, putting them back right in the thick of things to make the CAA Tournament next month.

“The shutout is big, the win is even bigger,” Dykstra said. “Going up the ranking is better than going down . the win is huge and the shutout is the cherry.”