Virginia Commonwealth University

Box Score: No. 14 UNC Greensboro 4, VCU 1
Location: Greensboro, N.C. / UNCG Soccer Stadium
Records: VCU 0-1, UNCG 1-0
 
THE SHORT STORY
VCU men's soccer trailed nationally ranked No. 14 UNC Greensboro by just a goal entering the final 15 minutes of play, following a 62^nd-minute strike by Jonas Pettersen, but a pair of late Spartan goals gave the Rams their first loss of the season, 4-1.
 
PITCH-SIDE

• Pettersen scored his first goal in his collegiate debut
• Manuel Monteiro got the start between the posts, playing his first full 90 minutes and making his first collegiate saves
• Fabian Garita had the Rams' other shot on goal
• Jordan Cheetham, Parker Simkins, David Leavey, Esteban Vasquez and Caleb Pak all made their VCU debuts in the starting lineup
• Six other Rams debuted off the bench; Brendan Dobzyniak, Bya Ndimubandi, Nathan Forst, Pettersen, Kimarly Scott and Ricky Oliva
• The Spartans had four different goal scorers

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Monteiro handled his first shot faced of the 2026 season, making his first save as a Ram in the 11^th minute, but UNCG countered with the opening goal in the 24^th minute
• 33 minutes into the contest, VCU nearly tied the game on a long shot from about 40 yards out off the boot of Scott, which struck the left upright
• A 49^th-minute Spartans goal, a high header off a corner, gave the host a two-goal lead
• Pettersen laced his opening goal through traffic to the far post, bringing VCU within a goal, 2-1
• In the 74^th minute, Garita had the Rams' best chance of tying the game on a header into the lower left corner, but UNCG's Seth Wilson made his lone save of the match
• The Spartans added another pair of late goals to bring a comeback out of the Rams' reach as VCU fell to 0-1 on the season by a score of 4-1

 
SCORING MOMENTS
24' | UNCG 1, VCU 0 – Filipe Matos; Trym Linberg
49' | UNCG 2, VCU 0 – Bautista Schmidt; Filipe Matos
62' | UNCG 2, VCU 1 – Jonas Pettersen
77' | UNCG 3, VCU 1 – Pablo Torre; Trym Linberg
81' | UNCG 4, VCU 1 – Keaviano Francis
 
QUOTABLE
"Obviously it was a tough night in terms of the score at the end. As shorthanded as we are right now, we are looking at each day as an opportunity to learn and grow and improve, and I think we have done that and will hopefully learn again from tonight. Unfortunately, we gave up some soft goals which didn't help us, but they are things that can be taught and corrected, so I feel good about that.
 
"We were in a position at 2-1 down where we were able to bring some guys on for the last 30 minutes who haven't really trained much or played as they are working back to fitness and the game totally changed and we started to take control. We had chances and didn't finish them during that time… when we probably didn't have the legs to transition as well as we will in a month. Every available player played and we just ran out of gas and people. On a positive note, none of the guys who were injured picked up any knocks, they gained some game fitness and the group has more information to build and learn from. This is a long season and I don't think we will be a team that anyone will want to see as it goes on and we get healthier and fitter," Head Coach Dave Giffard said.
 
UP NEXT
VCU will continue its five-game road trip with Wake Forest at 7 p.m. on Sunday, August 23 to conclude its opening week of play in the 2026 season.