RAMS SET TO HOST 10TH ANNUAL NIKE/ALLTEL CLASSIC
Seton Hall, Bryant and Richmond join VCU in four-team tournament
Tournament Central Website

RICHMOND, Va. – For the 10th straight season, the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s soccer team will host the Nike/Alltel Classic at VCU’s Sports Backers Stadium. The Classic will have four teams on display with Bryant University, Seton Hall and Richmond joining the Rams.

The weekend slate will open up with Richmond and Seton Hall doing battle in a 4 p.m. contest on Friday followed by the Black and Gold taking on Bryant. Sunday’s action will match Richmond against Bryant at 1 p.m. and VCU against Seton Hall at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to live stats being available for all games, Sunday's VCU game against Seton Hall will also be broadcast here at VCUathletics.com free of charge.

The Rams dominated the highly touted tournament last year posting back-to-back 4-0 victories over nationally ranked Virginia Tech and Albany.

In the nine-year history off the event, VCU has posted a 13-4-1 mark and has captured the championship on five occasions.

This season, VCU enters the weekend with a tough 0-2-0 mark after taking consecutive one-goal losses to top-ranked Wake Forest and 15th-ranked North Carolina.

Senior goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra (Woodbridge, Va.) and junior midfielder Owusu Sekyere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana) (pictured) had outstanding showings in the Carolina Nike Classic and earned spots on the All-Tournament team.

Joining the Black and Gold this weekend will be cross-town rivals, University of Richmond, who fell in its season opener 6-1 at Lehigh University. The Spiders were picked 10th in the preseason Atlantic-10 coaches’ poll.

Seton Hall has busted out of the gate strong. The Pirates are the only team entering the weekend with a win as they posted a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory against Monmouth and pounded Saint Peter’s 5-2. Junior goalkeeper Paul McHenry earned a spot on the Big East Weekly Honor Roll after an outstanding week between the pipes.

Bryant University, a transitional Division I institution from Rhode Island, opened its season with a 4-1 loss at the hands of Marquette University. Freshman Robb Rodriguez had a strong collegiate debut as he came off the bench to notch his first career goal for the Bulldogs.

As a reminder, the action kicks off Friday afternoon with Richmond and Seton Hall at 4 p.m., followed by VCU taking on Bryant in a 6:30 p.m. contest.