October 3, 2009

RAMS FALL ON THE ROAD, 3-2, TO HOFSTRA
Box Score

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Even a power outage couldn’t slow down the offensive force of the Hofstra Pride, and unfortunately neither could the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s soccer team, falling 3-2 on Saturday evening in Colonial Athletic Association action.

Just 44 seconds into the game, the lights went out which caused a slight delay, but once things got going, both teams would do their best to light up the scoreboard.

Sophomore Romario Blandon (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) tallied his sixth goal of the season, but it wasn’t enough as the Rams fell to 3-4-1 on the year and 0-2-0 in the CAA, while the Pride improved to 4-4 and 2-0 in conference play.

Stephan Barea found the back of the net less than five minutes into the game to give Hofstra an early 1-0 lead, a lead it would carry into the second half when Brett Carrington corralled a rebound in front and blast a shot past junior Gabriel Rodriguez (Guatemala City, Guatemala) to push the Pride lead to 2-0.

VCU would not go away quietly though as sophomore Alberto Fonseca fed a low cross through the box that just snuck by Hofstra goalkeeper Greg Cumpstone, where Blandon tapped it in to cut the lead to 2-1 in the 56th minute.

Rob Youhill proved to be a menace to the Black & Gold all night and he capped it off with what turned out to be the game-winner with 23:58 remaining in the contest to give Hofstra a 3-1 lead.

Again, the Rams would not go away as the senior duo of Phillip Daldrup (Bremen, Germany) and Owusu Sekyere (Suame-Kumasi, Ghana) teamed up for Daldrup’s second of the season and to cut into the Pride advantage at 3-2 with just under 15 minutes to play.

VCU would keep the pressure on as Sekyere found freshman Carlos Picado (San Jose, Costa Rica) all alone along the right side line, but Picado’s shot went just wide.

Less than a minute later, Daldrup nearly tallied his second goal of the night on a header from junior James Neighbour (Liphook England), but Daldrup’s header sailed just high.

Once again, the Black & Gold won the shots category, 15-11, but Cumpstone registered four saves to preserve the Hofstra victory.

The Rams return back to action on Wednesday evening when they host James Madison University in a pivotal CAA match-up. Game time at VCU’s Sports Backers Stadium is set for 7 p.m.