Women’s soccer ends weekend with tough loss to Appalachian State

Amir Vera
Staff Writer
The Commonwealth Times Sports’ Twitter

After defeating Marshall 4-1 on Friday, VCU finished the 2011 VCU Invitational Tournament on Sunday with a 2-1 loss against Appalachian State.

Sunday’s game featured mostly defense and extreme competition, as the Mountaineer’s style of play was seemingly too much for the Lady Rams, who according to co-head coach Tim Sahaydak, were “off.”

“It’s a big disappointment for us, especially coming off a good performance on Friday,” Sahaydak said. “We were disappointed with the result today not necessarily because of the score, but I think it was probably one of the worst performances definitely of the season and probably the past couple of seasons.”

The game started out slow, with ASU scoring late in the first half. Mountaineer freshmen forward Callie Johnson was able to score a header off a corner kick, assisted by junior forward Meggie Graham.

VCU would answer back 10 minutes later, as senior forward Azania made a quick pass to sophomore forward Courtney Conrad. Conrad, showcasing her exceptional ball-handling skills, was able to bypass the Mountaineer defense and score to tie the game up.

As the second half began, ASU quickly took the lead again as senior mid-fielder Sydney Hill sent a cross to freshmen forward Julia Holz for a goal, which would eventually be the last score of the afternoon.

Besides being a defensive game, missed attempts also played a crucial role. The Lady Rams
had a total of 14 shots by the end of the game, while the Mountaineers only had five.

“I think it was a lack of focus, just a lack of details,” Sahaydak said. “Unfotunately, we did not come out with the focus and we did not come out with that competitive mentality to put away every chance we got. We certainly had more chances than they did.”

Despite VCU’s performance Sunday, there were a few bright spots. Conrad, the sophomore forward, was able to make the All-Tournament team due to her performance in the weekend invitational tournament. While proud of his player, Sahaydak said he could not just focus on one player’s performance.

“That’s what’s so frustrating with coaching, you can be happy on Friday and you can be depressed on Sunday,” Sahaydak said. “But Monday morning, either way you have to find a way to be balanced and get back to work to figure what needs to be done for next weekend.”

With the loss behind them, VCU now moves on to next weekend when they will play Villanova in the William & Mary Tournament. If they want to be successful in that game, Sahaydak said the Lady Rams will need to forget about their lackluster performance Sunday and concentrate on how to improve so they can come away with a win.

“We have to keep it moving forward, this is not our last game this season, and there is still a lot of season ahead of us,” Sahaydak said. “I do believe we have a very strong team. It’s just finding out a way to be our best despite our opponent and on any given day.”