NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion men’s soccer team fell 2-1 to in-state rival VCU on Friday night at the ODU Soccer Stadium. ODU fell to 1-1-1 in the regular season and VCU won its first game and are now 1-2.
“We weren’t good enough in the second half tonight,” said ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea. “We didn’t dominate any phase of the game and the players know that. There is enough character in this locker room to bounce back but we need to learn from these early mistakes.”
The Monarchs opened the scoring from Jake Lane in the 24th minute of action off a double assist from Michael Eberle and Alex Kryazhev. Old Dominion had four shots in the first half but could not expand their lead, VCU had five shots in the first half but could not get past Michael Statham.
The second half was dominated by the Rams who had 12 shots, ODU conceded their first goal after a rocket from Lucas White careened off the hands of Statham and was bundled over the line by Hakim Musabbah in the 73rd minute. The Monarchs conceded a second goal in the 87th from Ibrahim Mohammed thanks to an assist by Nikita Hayes who found the midfielder darting into the box from the right side of the box and Mohammed slotted it in to make it 2-1.
Teagan Dunne, Evan Watt, Jett Aktan, Abdou Magib-So, Marcelo Randolf, and Statham all played the full 90 minutes. Lane scored his third goal in three games played and both Eberle and Kryazhev notched their second assist of the season. Statham made five saves in the game.
Pedro Salmon, Theo Drennan, Andres Rodriguez, Hayato Miyano, and Mohammed all played 90 minutes for the Rams. VCU played two goalkeepers, with Trevor Maloney starting the game before being switched out for Manuel Monteiro at halftime. Maloney made one save in the game.
“We will get back to work and head on the road with something to prove,” added McVea.
Old Dominion heads on the road for a three-game road trip starting with Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, September 2 at 6 p.m. ODU then heads to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to meet Bucknell on Sunday, September 7 at 1 p.m. The Monarchs round out the trip with UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday September 12 at 7 p.m.