September 11, 2009

VCU MEN’S SOCCER DROPS 2-0 DECISION AT SETON HALL
Box Score

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – A pair of goals within a three-minute span in the first half was too much for Virginia Commonwealth University to overcome as the Rams fell, 2-0, to Seton Hall on Friday night.

VCU (2-1-0) outshot the Pirates 12-6, including an 8-2 advantage in the second half, but couldn’t manage to find the net.

Seton Hall (2-2-0) threatened early but Gabriel Rodriguez (Guatemala City, Guatemala) came up with saves in the seventh and eighth minutes to keep the Pirates off the board.

The Rams had a chance in the 20th minute as Owusu Seykere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana) was on the mark with VCU’s first shot of the night but Seton Hall keeper Paul McHenry came up with his one of his four saves on the evening.

The Pirates scored in the 36th minute when Dritan Sela sent a cross into the box from the left side to Bryan Longo, who found the back of the net to put Seton Hall on top, 1-0.

Less than three minutes later Andrew Welker sent a pass through the VCU defense to Sela, who took a one-on-one down the middle and fired a shot past Rodriguez, giving Seton Hall a two-goal advantage at intermission.

Freshman Andrew Wells (Richmond, Va.) saw his first action in goal for the Rams, playing the final 45 minutes in relief of Rodriguez.

VCU had several scoring opportunities in the second half. The Rams had back-to-back corners in the 48th minute but failed to connect before McHenry came up with a save on Romario Blandon’s (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) shot in the 51st minute.

A foul by Seton Hall set up a penalty kick for the Rams in the 77th minute but Thomas Huepper’s (Olpe, Germany) shot was saved by McHenry for the fourth time on the night.

VCU pressured in the final minute of regulation as James Neighbour (Liphook, England) took a shot off a corner kick from Seykere but sailed wide of the target.

Blandon, who received Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week honors last Tuesday, fired off five shots with two on goal for the Rams.

VCU returns home to battle cross town rival Richmond at Sports Backers Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m.