Sports Briefs

Men’s soccer

In Dave Giffard’s first season as head coach of VCU’s men’s soccer program, he turned a team that had consecutive losing seasons in a row into a team that, seemingly out of nowhere, was back to being a contender. The Rams utilized a 10-match unbeaten run to finish second in the conference behind William & Mary with a record of 5-2-4 in the CAA and 8-5-6 overall.

Looking ahead to the future, Giffard’s self-stated goal of taking the team to the unseen heights of winning a National Championship – something his last school, Akron, where he was an assistant, did this past season – is looking more and more attainable.

The next step in that process for the Rams began with spring season, a series of seven of games in the spring against other schools and even semi-pro teams that are not part of the regular fall season but are nonetheless still competitive. VCU recently completed their spring season when they lost to West Virginia 3-1 in mid-April.

Overall, the Rams final record in spring season was an encouraging 4-2-1, including a match with the University of Virginia, a perennial power who won the national championship two seasons ago. It was the second time the Rams had faced the Cavaliers in recent time after losing to them 1-0 in a one of two exhibition matches they played before last season began. This time, the result was even better, with VCU holding UVA to a 0-0 draw.

The team also got to experience a game against an even more elevated echelon when they faced the Richmond Kickers of the Pro United Soccer League. The Kickers showed their class too, walking out 4-1 winners.

In all, VCU faced four teams in the spring season that participated in last year’s NCAA tournament. And sophomore Jose Carlos Castillo is making news with another team, too. Castillo helped the Guatemalan U20 national team reach the World Cup for the first time in the country’s history.

Women’s soccer

Not a lot of things went right for the VCU women’s soccer team last season besides the fact that they only lost one graduating player.

The Rams struggled on both sides of the ball all season long and their record ended up indicating just that with the team finishing 10th out of 12 teams in the conference. In the CAA, VCU only managed two wins and two draws, and they finished with a record of 6-9-4 overall.

But with almost the entire team returning, spring season presented a fresh opportunity to the squad to put last season’s struggles behind them. The team played in some five different games and didn’t touch defeat once. They also only gave up two goals over the entire five-game span.

Field hockey

The men’s basketball wasn’t the only VCU team with a historic run this school year. VCU’s field hockey team – led by fifth-year head coach Kelly McQuade – reached the CAA tournament semifinals, the best season at the school in some 18 years. And the 13 wins they amassed along the way were good enough to be second in school history.

The team recently released their 2011 season schedule, and like VCU’s men’s soccer team, a University of Virginia team that’s one of the best in the country highlights the list. The Rams will face the Cavaliers – one of last year’s NCAA tournament semifinalists – along with last year’s CAA tournament champion Old Dominion.

VCU’s first home game of the season will be Saturday Aug. 27 when they face off against Appalachian State at 2 p.m. at the Cary Street Field.