THREE RAMS EARN SPOT ON PRESEASON TEAM; DOS SANTOS NAMED CO-PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Three Rams honors most for any CAA squad

RICHMOND, Va. – Coming off its best season in three years, the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s soccer team has high expectations for the upcoming 2008 season and the preseason praise continued today as the Black and Gold had three players earn spots on the CAA Preseason Team, the most for any school.

Senior Gerson Dos Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) joined Old Dominion’s Trevor Banks as the CAA Preseason Co-Players of the Year. The veteran tallied seven goals and two assists a year ago to help the Rams to a 12-6-2 mark and a third place finish in the conference. He has earned All-CAA honors in each of his seasons with the Black and Gold, first team in 2007 and second team in 2006.

Joining Dos Santos on the preseason team was fellow senior Dirk Dittrich (Stuttgart, Germany) and rising sophomore Jorit Loehr (Bremen, Germany).

Dittrich earned All-CAA second team honors a year ago and anchored a VCU defense that recorded seven shutouts last year. Loehr came on strong in the latter half of the 2007 campaign when he was moved up front from his original defensive position. The sophomore made the position move look easy as he earned All-CAA second team and All-Rookie honors with seven goals and three assists. 

Head Coach Tim O’Sullivan will look to get the Black and Gold back into the CAA Championship picture again this year as they kick their season off on August 29th against defending national champion Wake Forest in a 5 p.m. contest.