Adam Stern
Sports Editor
Flash back to 1998, and first-year men’s soccer head coach Dave Giffard was just beginning what would turn out to be over a decade-long circulation through the college-coaching circles as an assistant.
Flash forward some twelve years later to this past Monday, and Giffard had just overseen his first triumph as chieftain: a 2-0 victory over Coastal Carolina to bring VCU’s record to 1-1-0.
But even with such a delayed and drawn out journey between beginning and now, Giffard took his first victory as a head coach so much in stride that it was basically business as usual.
“I don’t think I was nearly as excited as everybody else…. but it was nice,” Giffard said of the victory. “I think [the coaching staff] really just have high expectations and are used to winning a lot.”
That’s something VCU fans could get used to.
Giffard’s hoping the team will, too, as they prepare for this weekend’s Coastal Carolina Tournament — a two-game tilt against Howard and Wofford University — that will see the squad hit the road for the first time since the regular season started.
And with CAA play starting in just over two weeks, when VCU hosts Northeastern on Sep. 25, Giffard isn’t underestimating the importance that each and every non-conference game can have, come crunch time, for a second.
“For us, it’s a big impact,” Giffard said of the importance of non-conference games. “We have four more games until we start the conference schedule, four more games to continue to grow in all areas. But also for us to kind of figure out what our best group is, so when we get into the conference schedule, we’re firing on all cylinders.”
Firing on all cylinders is something the team didn’t do enough of last season; the Rams scored one goal or less in over half their matches while only winning two games in the conference, leaving the team in 10th out of 12 teams.
So far so good this season, though; VCU has scored in three of their four matches (including a goal in their exhibition against National Champions UVA), and have averaged a formidable fifteen shots a game.
Senior co-captain and midfielder CJ Gehin-Scott scored his first goal of the season and assisted on another in the victory over Carolina; the newcomers to the strike force, including Jamaican international striker Jason Johnson, are growing into their roles gradually.
“The attacking piece is usually the last piece to come around because…it’s not as easy to create as it is to destroy,” Giffard said. “We’re going to play a lot of games where teams are going to try and destroy our attack, and it’s going to take some time to break them down.”
Time the Rams still have, until Northeastern comes knocking to start off the conference slate. But until the games that matter at the end of the season start, there is the matter of an important rivalry game that matters anytime its played to take care of; VCU travels to University of Richmond next Wednesday night.
For Giffard — who will be facing Richmond for the first time — the ever-present cross-town clash is understood, yet nothing to get too worked up about, similar to his first victory on Monday.
“Does [the rivalry] have a lot to do with the outcome of the game? If you let it,” Giffard said. “It’s just a game; it’s just a game.”
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