Rams butt heads with the Tribe, lose 2-1

Hayden Braun, Contributing Writer

The VCU women’s soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss against William & Mary on Thursday, Aug. 29.

VCU second-year forward Kendyl Sarver came out with a shot on goal at the two-minute mark in the first half. Although it was a missed shot, she set the tone to start and it eventually led to her first goal of the season. 

 “I felt it coming for the last three games. I definitely wanted to get some momentum going,” Sarver said. “I can’t understate how awesome that was. But it definitely doesn’t feel as good when you don’t win.”

VCU had a total of 13 shots, out shooting their opponent’s 10 total shots in the game, according to StatBroadcast.

Neither team was able to finish a chance during the first half, and the game was tied 0-0 heading into halftime.

“There were times where we were bending, but we didn’t break,” said Lindsey Martin, VCU head coach. 

The team talked about different defensive schemes during halftime, but overall decided to stick to the original game tactics, Martin said.

“We talked about a couple of ways to defend against them, playing short out of the back. But other than that, we stuck to what we thought was going to be the successful game plan,” Martin said.

In the second half, VCU fourth-year goalkeeper Allison Karpovich had 3 saves with 2 goals allowed, according to StatBroadcast. 

Her first save came at the beginning of the second half and gave VCU momentum, which led to the game’s first goal of the night. 

Sarver scored a goal with an assist from fourth-year midfielder Kanna Matsuhisa at the 57-minute mark. 

VCU was up 1-0 but then committed back-to-back penalties, earning the Rams two yellow cards.

The first of two yellow cards led to a goal from the Tribe’s second-year midfielder Lindsay Wilson to tie the game 1-1 at the 85-minute mark. 

Two minutes later, William & Mary’s fourth-year forward Leah Iglesias scored the game-winning goal, which gave the Tribe a 2-1. 

“Unfortunately, it’s a loss, but it’s the best we played for 80 minutes, but those last eight minutes we have to learn from,” Martin said. 

The team will take this loss into practice to help prepare them for their future matchups, according to Martin. 

“We’ll be taking it into training as we head into this week. Obviously, we got a tough schedule ahead with UVA, Maryland and Wilmington, but we’re getting to where we need to be, hopefully in time for the conference,” Martin said.

VCU will be taking on the University of Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 5 at home in Sports Backers Stadium at 7 p.m.