Chase Berman, Contributing Writer
The VCU men’s soccer team tied 1-1 against The George Washington University on Wednesday. The Rams are now 1-7-3 for the regular season.
The energy was high throughout the game. The Rams led possession throughout most of the first half, but a series of bad turnovers led to the Revolutionaries fighting back. However, neither team was able to score in the first half.
The second half saw more action and physicality. Fourth-year midfielder Andrey Salmeron scored his first goal of the season less than five minutes into the second half, but the Revolutionaries quickly tied the game with a goal from first-year forward Tommaso Lami.
Overall, the Rams outshot the Revolutionaries 15 to 11. These shots on goal have been a major focus of VCU head coach Dave Gifford.
“It’s a game of percentages and odds, right,” Giffard said. “You have seven or eight chances that could have been goals and you get one. If that number is 25 or 30 chances…you probably get three or four and you’re really comfortable.”
Third-year midfielder Mohammed Ibrahim, who contributed an assist, and Salmeron both stressed the importance of maintaining a positive outlook.
“We always have to keep that mentality high, you know, whether we lose or win. We just have to keep going,” Ibrahim said.
Salmeron had an optimistic outlook after the match.
“After the Dayton game, we were really hyped for, like a new chapter in our season because we were losing almost every game,” Salmeron said.
Fourth-year midfielder Lucas White left the match with an undisclosed injury. According to Gifford, injuries have plagued the team all year – an issue that led to all three staff playing during the pre-season. These injuries resulted in many team members having to play more minutes or step into new roles.
“As you trim the margins, as everything gets smaller, there’s less people, less quality, ready people and you’re running them harder and harder and you see the fatigue set in,” Gifford said. “Got a lot of guys who have a great mentality…we just keep going.”