Zachary Holden
Staff Writer
The VCU women’s soccer team won 1-0 in a hard fought game against the Butler Bulldogs Sunday afternoon at Sports Backers stadium.
The game started strong with an early through ball to Wendy Acosta that nearly saw the Rams go on top, but strong defending ended the chance.
Butler came back with a chance when a cross into the box was poorly cleared by the Rams and the follow-up shot was a low one that gave goalkeeper Kristin Carden some trouble, but she kept it out.
The Rams then had another chance in the 17th minute when a cross headed towards Acosta, who then attempted a side volley, but it was deflected out. Cristin Granados followed up on the deflection with a shot from distance that is saved.
After a slow 15 minutes, the Rams had what appeared to be a goal. A through-ball to Courtney Conrad saw her in on goal and converted the shot, but a questionable offside call negated it.
The first half came to a close with a VCU free kick that was easily saved by Butler’s goalie.
“I think it’s always hard to be sharp on Sunday because mentally you’re a little bit down from Friday,” said coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak.
A quiet start to the second half didn’t see much action until the final half hour of the game.
A free kick from the Rams in the 67th minute was sloppily punched out by Butler’s goalie and then the follow up shot by VCU missed narrowly.
A few minutes later, Conrad played a through-ball in the box to Acosta who was taken down during her shot. The referee did not award the penalty even with the shouts pleading for it.
With 10 minutes to go, the Rams finally had the play that changed the game. Acosta was in on goal when the Butler goalie took her down in the box and the referee immediately pointed to the spot and awarded the penalty kick.
Taking it upon herself, Acosta stepped up to the spot and converted a low shot to the left to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.
“We have been practicing during the week…the (coaches) said they were nervous,” said Acosta. “I was so confident in myself and I just shot it and that’s it.”
Just one minute later, Granados sends in a low, skimming shot on goal that went just wide left.
A few final attempts from the Bulldogs kept the Rams on their toes, but thanks to the dominant goalkeeping from Carden, the lead was preserved.
“(Carden) is just a real presence…she brings a lot of confidence to our back four,” said Sahaydak. “She’s able to make big game changing moments.”
The win gave the Rams their second of the weekend after beating Saint Louis 2-0 on Friday and moves them into third overall in the Atlantic 10.
“I’m really proud of them to be able to get six points against two strong teams in our conference,” said Sahaydak.
The Rams will be back home Friday, Oct. 19 to face cross-town rivals Richmond in the final home game of the season.