October 4, 2008

ASAD-RADWAN LEADS RAMS TO 3-0 POUNDING OF HOFSTRA
Junior scores two goals in first start of the season
Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – Junior Forsan Asad-Radwan (Amman, Jordan) made his first career start a memorable one as the James River graduate notched two goals to lead the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s soccer team to a 3-0 victory over the Pride of Hofstra University on Saturday evening at VCU’s Sports Backers Stadium.

The victory is the fourth in the past five games for the Black and Gold as it improves to 1-1-0 in conference action and 5-4-0 overall, while Hofstra falls to 1-6-2 on the year and 0-1-1 in CAA play.

Asad-Radwan and sophomore C.J. Gehin-Scott (Chesapeake, Va.) put the pressure on the Pride early with numerous shots that ended up wide of the net.

Junior Joey Lyonnais (Fredericksburg, Va.) (left) got things started in the 23rd minute as he lofted a beautiful pass to classmate Mirwies Zahelzi (Paderbon, Germany) who sped down the left sideline past the Hofstra defense. Zahelzi found a cutting Asad-Radwan who found the back of the net from five yards out to put VCU up 1-0.

Five minutes later, junior Owusu Sekyere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana) started a nearly identical play on the right sideline as he found Gehin-Scott who fed Asad-Radwan who pushed the Black and Gold advantage to 2-0 with his second goal of the evening.

VCU continued to control the ball for much of the first half as it held an 8-2 advantage in shots at the intermission.

The second half was much of the same story as the Rams put relentless pressure on the Hofstra backline.

Junior Otavio De Luca (Sao Paulo, Brazil) lofted a beautiful pass to a speedy Michael Denkewitz (Bremen, Germany) who had his first shot blocked but a rebound came back to him and he didn’t miss with his second shot that put VCU up 3-0 in the 60th minute of play.

VCU’s stellar backline made sure the score would not change as it held the Pride to just nine shots on the evening and only tested goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra (Woodbridge, Va.) twice.

Dykstra registered two saves in his fourth shutout of the season and the 16th of his outstanding four-year career.

The Rams are back in action on Wednesday evening as they travel up I-64 to take on the Dukes of James Madison in a 7 p.m. contest.