Ben Martindale, Sports Editor
VCU men’s soccer will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. to make their 2026 season debut on Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The Rams have been a threat to win the A-10 championship since head coach Dave Giffard took over the program prior to the 2010 season and have consistently finished between the top 15 to 60 teams in national rankings.
This year’s squad hopes to be no different, but there is still work to do, according to Giffard.
“We’ve got some unanswered things and some guys where maybe the data isn’t quite out there yet,” Giffard said. “But we’re making progress each day.”
Injuries are the biggest reason for this lack of data.
“We’ve got five or six guys that have been out all preseason. They haven’t really trained or done anything due to injury,” Giffard said. “Unfortunately, those guys all happened to play in the same part of the field.”
Despite injuries, the VCU coaching staff has powered on, electing to use the unforeseen circumstances as an opportunity to encourage growth in players who typically wouldn’t get as much playing time.
“The nice part is you’re really spending time helping to bring the other players along,” Giffard said. “It’s not just 5 minutes here or 10 minutes there that you’re being focused on.”
The Rams must reconcile the loss of multiple talented players leaving college to enter the professional ranks following last season, including All-American and former A-10 defensive player of the year, Moussa Ndiaye. He signed his first professional contract with Athletic Club Boise of USL League One.
“I mean those guys [that graduated last year] went through fights,” Giffard said. “They were there when we were all green and just trying to figure out how to fight our way out of it. They had success, they had disappointments, they had all those things.”
As of now, this year’s squad stands unproven, but according to Giffard, they’re still worth the watch.
“You’re gonna see some really, really talented players and we’re gonna play one of the best three or four schedules in all of college soccer,” Giffard said.
The 2026 season marks the first that VCU soccer will play home games at the new Athletic Village, tickets are free to the public, not just students and all are welcome.