Men’s soccer remains winless after four games

No. 18 ranked Radford University scored four unanswered goals, ultimately beating the Rams 4-2 on Friday night at Sportsbackers Stadium.

VCU redshirt-junior midfielder Francesco Amorosino scored his first goal of the season early in the match. Radford had a quick response and tied the game less than a minute later when Fraser Colmer found the back of the net on a header off a corner kick.

Neil Martorana scored in the 23rd minute, handing Radford the 2-1 lead. Evan Szklennik quickly echoed Martorana and scored his first goal of the season for RU, rebounding a shot that bounced off VCU junior goalkeeper Pierre Gardan.

The Black and Gold convened in the locker room at halftime, down 3-1.

Martorana scored his second goal of the game early in the second half, giving Radford the 4-1 edge. Amorosino scored his second goal of the night during the 83rd minute, cutting Highlander’s lead to 4-2.

“Right now we just aren’t doing the little things that you have to do to win,” said VCU coach Dave Giffard. “We aren’t fighting and battling for the right to play. To give up 11 goals in four games is totally unacceptable. I take full responsibility for our performance so far and I can promise our fans and our alums that it will change. One way or another, I guarantee it.”

On Sept. 5 the Rams traveled down I-95 where they lost in a nail-biter to no. 3 ranked University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, dropping their third game of the season 3-2.

“Right now, we are in a race against time to see how good we can be, but the ceiling for this team is quite high,” Giffard said. “The team and I believe we can get there, but we have to stay the course and keep following the process.”

The Tar Heels got on the board early on when UNC’s Walker Hume scored a header off a corner kick five minutes into the match. The Rams responded with two quick goals of their own.

Redshirt-senior midfielder Dakota Barnathan and sophomore midfielder Lyndsey Moreland scored back-to-back goals in a span of a minute to give the Rams their first and only lead of the game.

Barnathan answered by putting a penalty kick in the back of the net after redshirt-junior midfielder Luc Fatton was taken out by UNC goalkeeper James Pyle in the box. The penalty kick evened the score at 1-1. Moreland’s goal came on a free kick when he knocked the ball into the net after a cross.

The Tar Heels tied the game at the 30 minute mark when VCU failed to clear the ball, giving Tucker Hume a golden scoring opportunity from four yards out. The score remained 2-2 as the game went into halftime.

Both teams got off to a slow start in the second half as they exchanged shots for the first few minutes, but UNC was able to score the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute. The Rams lost possession in their half and Hume fired a shot past Gardan into the bottom left corner, past a diving keeper.

“If this group will continue to stay on the path that we are on, I like our chances of advancing game after game when it becomes knock out time,” Giffard said.

The Rams (0-4) next host the Vermont Catamounts (5-0) Sunday Sept. 11, at SportsBacker at 3 p.m. Results were not available at the time of production.

STAFF WRITER

Gabe Hauari
Gabe is a junior majoring in print/online journalism with a general business minor. Along with writing for the CT, he also doubles as the editor of Rams Review, a student-run blog covering VCU sports. Gabe primarily enjoys writing about sports and someday hopes to grace the halls at ESPN. You can usually find Gabe waiting in line at Chipotle, playing FIFA at his apartment, or quoting “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
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