Women’s Soccer Faces Tough Defense, Comes Away Empty
Co-head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak refers to every women’s soccer game in the Colonial Athletic Association as a “dogfight.”
Jim Swing
Assistant Sports Editor
Co-head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak refers to every women’s soccer game in the Colonial Athletic Association as a “dogfight.” The Rams found themselves in the middle of one Sunday as they fell 2-0 to the Hofstra Pride, who currently stands at No. 1 in the CAA.
The Pride (8-1, 2-0) jumped ahead in the 32nd minute when forward Krysti Rodriguez jumped on a juicy rebound from four yards out off of a shot placed by forward Grace Hawkins.
“Hofstra did a good job pouncing on a second ball and we got caught sleeping,” Roberts Sahaydak said. “We need to be plugged in all the time on second balls and we just had a lack of focus.” Hofstra would follow up just nine minutes later in the 41st minute with a late first-half goal by defense/forward Ruby Staplehurst, who used her speed to break away and take a long pass from Hawkins and bury it in the left corner. “We had a lack of communication in the back,” Roberts Sahaydak said. “If both goals were set up to happen again, I feel like we would be able to deal with it, but at that moment there was a lack of focus.”
VCU struggled to find the back of the net all afternoon, even with the help of three first-half corner kicks. Hofstra utilized its resilient defense halting any opportunity the Rams were given during possession at midfield. The Pride outshot the struggling VCU offense 11-3, producing three shots on goal, as opposed to the Rams one. VCU’s offense was stifled by a Hofstra squad that has given up just four goals in the past eight contests.
“Up until the goals I think we had the better of the game,” Roberts Sahaydak said. “We came out with more energy, and we were pressing and had more of the attack, but once the goals were scored, our mentality switched.”
The Rams were forced to play without leading scorer Bre White (Manassas, Va./C.D. Hylton High School), who was knocked out with a concussion Friday night against Northeastern late in the game. “We missed Bre, but it was not the reason why we couldn’t produce a result today,” Roberts Sahaydak said. “We need every single player, but we can play without one.”
Sunday’s match marks the Rams second in-conference loss following Friday’s 1-0 loss to Northeastern (6-3, 1-1). “We need to get our spark back; we’re missing a little bit of our excitement and energy factor,” said Roberts Sahaydak. “We are a young team who’s facing a struggle with getting our spark of energy back.”