RAMS CHALLENGE NO.1 WAKE FOREST, BUT FALL 2-1
Rosenbaum notches first goal of season in opener
Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – With all the high expectations and lofty goals surrounding the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s soccer team this year, it would be tough for the Rams to live up to the hype early in the season.

The Black and Gold , however, did just that as they battle the nation’s top-ranked team to the wire, but fell in a hard-fought contest 2-1 to the defending national champion Wake Forest at the Carolina Nike Classic on Friday evening.

In the season opener for both teams, VCU grabbed the tempo out of the gates firing off the first three shots of the contest and testing the Demon Deacons defense right away.

The outstanding defense of senior Dirk Dittrich (Stuttgart, Germany) and sophomore Jorit Loehr (Bremen, Germany) kept the powerful Wake Forest offense in check for most of the first half.

It was not until the 38th minute of action that the defending champs were able to get on the board as Austin da Luz found the back of the net from five yards out as he headed a pass from Jamie Franks to give Wake Forest a 1-0 advantage heading into the intermission.

VCU did not wait long after the break to even the contest as junior standout Owusu Sekyere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana) fed fifth-year senior David Rosenbaum (Washington, D.C.) who beat Wake Forest goalie Akira Fitzgerald and blasted a shot from 10 yards out to tie the score at 1-1 in the 50th minute of play.

Sekyere and junior Jake Van Yahres (Charlottesville, Va.) continued the offensive attack for the Rams as they both blasted shots right after Rosenbaum’s goal, but the score remained tied at 1-1.

The Demon Deacons answered VCU’s offensive outburst as Marcus Tracy took a feed from Corben Bone and headed a shot just inside the far post to give Wake Forest a 2-1 advantage in the 57th minute of play.

Wake Forest would tighten up their defense the rest of the way as they allowed the Rams just one more shot on their way to the hard-fought 2-1 victory.

“I thought we played extremely well and the purely soccer part of the game we were outstanding,” Head Coach Tim O’Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of positives to take from this game, sure there are some negatives, but as players and coaches it let’s us realize that we’re a pretty good team.”

The Rams out shot the Demon Deacons by a tally of 10-7 with Rosenbaum leading the way with two shots, both of which were on target.

“In many parts of the game, we were actually the more dangerous team,” O’Sullivan said. “Give Wake credit they took advantage of every opportunity they had, but it’s says something about this team that we were able to in a way out play the best team in the country.”

VCU will conclude its stay at the Carolina Nike Classic with a 4:30 p.m. match-up against the host Tar Heels of North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.