Virginia Commonwealth University

Box Score: VCU 0, Wake Forest 0
Location: Winston-Salem, N.C. / Spry Stadium
Records: VCU 0-1-1, Wake Forest 1-0-1
 
THE SHORT STORY
VCU men's soccer battled to a scoreless draw at Wake Forest on Sunday night as sophomore goalkeeper Manuel Monteiro made a career-high five saves to record his first career shutout.
 
PITCH-SIDE

• Monteiro recorded his first career clean sheet, stopping all five Deacon shots on net
• Kimarly Scott had VCU's shot on goal and Mohammed Ibrahim led the Rams with a pair of shots
• Brendan Dobzyniak made his first collegiate start
• VCU was outshot 19-5, and Wake Forest led the contest with 12 corner kicks to the Rams' one
• The Rams defense blocked eight of the Deacs' 19 shot attempts
• All five of Wake Forest shots on goal came from different players
• VCU extended its unbeaten (2-0-1) streak at Spry Stadium, stretching back to 2021

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wake Forest's attack got off to an early start, placing a pair of shots on net in the first 10 minutes of play, handled in turn by Monteiro
• The Rams carried their late first-half momentum into the second half, maintaining more possession and allowing just one more on-target shot
• In a last-ditch effort to break the stalemate, the Rams and Demon Deacons tallied three shots apiece in the final four minutes of play
• Scott had VCU's best scoring chance of the night in the 88^th minute, but Wake goalkeeper Jonah Mednard made his lone save of the night and the contest ended in a 0-0 draw

 
QUOTABLE
"I'm proud of the guys for battling and fighting all the way through to earn a good point on the road. We did what I asked the boys to do; we got better in our defensive structure without training really between games. We got limited minutes for some of the guys growing back into fitness and they all got out without setbacks. For where we are right now in terms of who is available and what we can do at this level, I was very pleased. I told the boys if we worked together and stayed connected a bit better, we would be in it and have chances to win the game and we did. Now we need to recover, learn what we can with a few days training and go again against a really strong North Carolina team on Friday night." Head Coach Dave Giffard said.
 
UP NEXT
VCU will continue its five-game road trip at RV North Carolina at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 28, before heading to No. 16 High Point (Sept. 2) and No. 17 Marshall (Sept. 6) the following week.