RICHMOND, Va. - Old Dominion men’s soccer extended its unblemished start to the season to seven games after defeating VCU, 2-1 on Monday afternoon at the VCU Athletic Village in Richmond, Virginia.
“We weren’t at our best today, VCU put us under a lot of pressure,” said ODU head coach Tennant McVea. “They have played a really difficult schedule and have been in a lot of tight games. I’m proud of the defensive output today but we didn’t control enough of the game. But winning college soccer games is a habit of this team. It’s the start of a new season on Friday against an extremely talented South Carolina side as we open Sun Belt play and we will be ready for the task.”
Old Dominion (7-0) opened the scoring in the 5th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Jacopo Caprile flung a long throw into the middle of the box and caused chaos. The ball was cleared by VCU’s (0-5-3) defenders and fell to Barrett Saul. He headed it first time back into the box and Miguel Menendez tracked the ball, rose above the VCU defense, and headed home an early goal.
VCU was playing their second home game of the season and were able to respond in front of their home crowd. Parker Simkins received the ball on the right wing and drove towards the top of the box. He curled a shot on his left foot into the top right hand corner to tie the game at 1-1.
The Silver and Blue did not back down and applied pressure to the Rams with a few minutes remaining in the first half. Micah Wayland scored the go-ahead goal with another header for the Monarchs in the 43rd minute. Jason Purks received the ball from Matthew Moffatt on the far edge of the box and found Wayland at the far post to take a 2-1 lead into the halftime break.
Old Dominion held the Rams scoreless in the second half, but that effort did require some heroics from ODU’s goalkeeper Alexander Aguilar. The Rams had three clear cut chances, the first coming in the 75th minute from a Simkins header at the far post. He headed the ball down and it took a high bounce which evaded both ODU defenders and forced Aguilar to make an outstretched fingertip save to ease the ball away for a corner.
The second came in the 87th minute, VCU’s Ibrahim Mohammed, who scored the game-winning goal against the Monarchs in 2025, connected on a header by the far post. But ODU’s defenders were able to get a deflection, and it fell into the hands of Aguilar.
The third and final chance for VCU came moments later, in the 88th minute the Rams were able to work their way into the box and found Scott Kimarly to cross to. He had a free shot just a few feet away from Aguilar in front of the net, but Michael Dessalegn made a well-timed block to ease the ball out for another corner. The Rams took the following corner and delivered towards the back post again. But ODU’s David Chapman was there to clear the danger, and the Monarchs saw out the 2-1 victory in enemy territory.
VCU outshot the Monarchs, 17-9 and 6-4 in shots on goal. The Rams also held an 8-2 corner kick advantage. Caprile, David Chapman, and Noah Dietze all played a full 90 minutes in the outfield. McVea earned his 19th win at the helm of the Monarchs and defeated in-state rival VCU for the first time in three attempts.
Aguilar picked up his seventh win of the season and played 90 minutes in goal. He tallied a career high five saves in the winning effort. VCU’s Manuel Monteiro played 90 minutes in net and made two saves.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion returns to Norfolk for back-to-back games at the ODU Soccer Complex. The #22 Monarchs open Sun Belt Conference play against #6 South Carolina on Friday, September 18 at 7 p.m. The Monarchs follow up that game with a home meeting against in-state foe William & Mary on Tuesday, September 22 at 6 p.m.