VCU Rams men's soccer

VCU Rams men's soccer
2016 VCU Rams men's soccer team
Founded	1978
University	Virginia Commonwealth University
Conference	A-10
Location	Richmond, VA
Head coach	Dave Giffard (4th year)
Stadium	Sports Backers Stadium (Capacity: 3,250)
Nickname	Rams
Colors	Black and Gold[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal
2004
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
2003, 2004
NCAA Tournament Appearances
1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2013
Conference Tournament Champions
1997, 2002, 2003
Conference Regular Season Champions
Metro 1993 CAA 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004

The VCU Rams men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Virginia Commonwealth University, an NCAA Division I member school located in the state's capital of Richmond. The team is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Since their foundation, the team has won three conference championships, all of which came in the Colonial Athletic Association, and four regular season titles. The Rams have qualified for seven NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championships, most recently coming in 2012. Most of the team's success has come within the last 15 seasons, as they first reached the NCAA Tournament in 1997. The program's best performance in the tournament came in 2004, when the Rams reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, knocking off the top seed, Wake Forest, in the process.

The Rams are presently coached by David Giffard, who was a former assistant coach under Caleb Porter for the Akron Zips.

History

Beginning in 1978, Virginia Commonwealth University fielded a men's varsity soccer program, that competed independently.^[2] Ben Satterfield was the team's initial head coach and was at the helm until the end of the 1982 season. Still then, an independent side, Roosevelt Landy took over. In 1987, the team joined the Sun Belt Conference for men's soccer, where they struggled to do well in the conference under Landy.

Following Steuckenschneider's departure in 1994, Tim Sullivan took over the head coaching job. It was also the same year VCU left the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to join the Colonial Athletic Association. Under Sullivan's tenure, the team enjoyed their most success both in conference play and in NCAA play, earning their first ever berth in the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.

Initially, the young team had struggles in the Colonial Athletic Association, finishing towards the bottom of the conference standings in its first two years. In 1997, the team vastly improved, earning a third-place regular season record and earning the CAA championship that year. In the 1997 Championship, the Rams defeated American University 9-8 in a penalty kick shootout after drawing 2–2 in regulation time.^[2]

Since then the team won the CAA championship in 2002 and 2003, as well as winning the regular season title those same years as well as winning the honor in 2004.^[2]

The team's most successful run in the College Cup, the men's NCAA Division I Soccer Tournament, came in 2004, where the Rams entered the tournament as ranked 16th in the nation, earning a bye to the second round proper. In the second round, the Rams defeated George Washington, before upsetting the number-one seeded, Wake Forest Demon Deacons in penalty kicks. Reaching the regional finals, or quarterfinals in the entire tournament, VCU lost to eventual national finalists, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.^[3]

Following the end of the 2009 season, VCU hit a team nadir, falling to last place in the CAA, their worst in the history. Following the conclusion of the season, 15-year head coach, Tim O'Sullivan was fired to be replaced by David Giffard, thus making Giffard the sixth head coach in VCU men's soccer history.^[4] Giffard's facelifting of the team was credited in their finishing as regular season runners-up in 2010.^[5]

The Giffard-led program began play in the Atlantic 10 Conference during the 2012 NCAA Division I men's soccer season, where the Rams finished fourth in the Atlantic 10 table, and reached the final of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Tournament, only to lose to Saint Louis in the final. The Rams secured an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship, making it the first time since 2004 the Rams qualified. In the tournament, VCU was seeded fourteenth in the tournament. They lost to Syracuse Orange in the second round proper of the tournament, 3–2 after extra time.

Colors and badge

The team uses the school colors of black and gold.

Stadium

Along with the women's soccer and the track & field teams, the Virginia Commonwealth men's soccer team plays at the 3,250-seat Sports Backers Stadium. Located three miles north of the Monroe Park Campus, the stadium is adjacent to The Diamond ballpark, where the baseball team plays. Since its completion in 1999, the stadium has served as the primary venue for the team.

Fans

Like all VCU Rams sports teams, the men's soccer team's main fan group is the Rowdy Rams. The Rowdy Rams are situated in the bleachers in front of the nets, and switch sides each half to invoke intimidation on the opposing sides goalkeeper. They sit with the university's marching band. The Rowdy Rams at games refer to themselves as Rowdy FC.

Rivalries

Over the years, the Rams have developed rivalries with intrastate colleges, both in the Colonial Athletic Association and against non-conference opponents. The team's main rivals, at least before the move to the A10, were considered to be George Mason^[6][7] and Old Dominion,^[8] who both played with the Rams in the CAA. Due to the recent success of the teams' programs, some considered William & Mary and James Madison to be tertiary conference rivals of the Rams before their departure for the A10.

In the Rams' new conference home of the A10, their main rival will be the Richmond Spiders, primarily due to the geographical proximity of the two universities.^[9]

Outside the CAA and A10, some cite Virginia Tech and University of Virginia as intra-conference, state rivals due to record attendances. Of the three largest attendance crowds in VCU soccer history, two came from home matches against VT and UVA.

Roster

As of July 31, 2016.^[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 0 GK Joseph Rice 3 DF Zeron Sewell 4 DF Steven Dal Molin 5 DF Juan Fajardo 6 MF Brandon Eaton 7 MF Luc Fatton 8 MF Dakota Barnathan 10 MF Rafael Santos 11 MF Kai Marshall 12 MF Fortia Munts 13 MF Travis Cooke 14 FW Simond Kargbo 15 DF R. J. Roberts 17 MF Eli Lockaby 19 MF Lyndsey Moreland

No. Position Player 20 FW Jorge Herranz 21 MF Greg Boehme 22 MF Petros Agiasiotis 23 MF Francesco Amorosino 24 DF Austin Graham 25 MF Joseph Gonnella 26 MF Gerald Vargas 28 DF Cedric Ekoue 30 MF Tony Gonnella 31 MF Jason McGlothern 32 FW Andrew Walters 33 DF Ryo Shimazaki 56 GK Pierre Gardan 77 FW Rahim Costa-Dorsey

Team management

Coaching Staff

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Dave Giffard
Asst. Head Coach	Brett Teach
Asst. Coach	Josh Tudela
Volunteer Assistant Coach	Travis Morris

Last updated: September 14, 2011
Source: VCU Rams Athletics Website

Head coaching history

Dates	Name	Notes
1978–1982	Ben Satterfield
1983–1989	Roosevelt Lundy Gianni Baldini	Co-Head coach 1983-1987
1989–1994	Lincoln Phillips
1994	Jon Steuckenschneider
1995–2009	Tim O'Sullivan	Led team to first CAA championship first NCAA tournament appearance led team to quarterfinals in 2004
2010–present	David Giffard

Seasons

Key

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Wooden Spoon

Key to conference record GP = Games played W = Won L = Lost T = Tied GF = Goals for GA = Goals against Pts = Points Pos. = Final conference position

Key to conference tournament rounds R1 = First round QF = Quarterfinals SF = Final F = Final

Key to NCAA tournament rounds R1 = First round R2 = Second round R3 = Third round R4 = Fourth round QF = Quarterfinals SF = Semifinals (College Cup)

List of seasons

Season	Conference Regular Season										Overall							Conference Tournament	NCAA Tournament	Additional Honors
	Division	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts.	Pos.		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts.
1978	Independent	14	4	10	0			12	N/A
1979	Independent
1980	Sun Belt
1981	Sun Belt
1982	Sun Belt
1983	Sun Belt
1984	Sun Belt
1985	Sun Belt
1986	Sun Belt
1987	Sun Belt	3	0	3	0			3	6th		20	11	7	2			35	SF
1988	Sun Belt	3	1	2	0			3	4th		17	9	6	2			29	SF
1989	Sun Belt	3	1	1	1			4	3rd		19	8	10	1			25	SF
1990	Sun Belt	7	2	3	2			8	6th		18	5	9	4			19	R1
1991	Metro	3	1	1	1			4	3rd		19	8	10	1			25	Runners-up
1992	Metro	5	0	2	2			2	5th		18	5	11	2			17
1993	Metro	5	4	1	0			12	1st		18	15	3	0			45	SF
1994	Metro	5	0	5	0			0	5th		19	5	14	0			15
1995	CAA	8	2	5	1	4	15	7	7th		19	8	10	1	30	28	25	QF
1996	CAA	8	2	5	1	9	16	7	6th		19	6	9	4	24	26	22	QF
1997	CAA	10	4	4	2	15	11	14	3rd		23	15	4	4	40	23	49	Champions	R2
1998	CAA	8	7	0	1	21	7	22	1st		21	12	6	3	38	25	39	SF	R1
1999	CAA	8	6	2	0	20	8	18	2nd		22	14	7	1	46	25	43	Runners-up	R1
2000	CAA	8	2	3	3	10	11	9	6th		21	9	8	4	22	23	31	SF
2001	CAA	5	2	2	1	7	7	7	4th		21	8	10	3	32	26	27	Runners-up
2002	CAA	9	7	1	1	21	6	22	1st		22	15	5	1	44	20	46	Champions	R3
2003	CAA	9	8	1	0	23	4	24	1st		22	17	5	0	50	24	51	Champions	R4
2004	CAA	9	7	1	1	14	6	22	1st		21	12	6	3	36	22	39	SF	QF
2005	CAA	11	4	3	4	11	7	16	4th		18	6	10	4	20	25	22	QF
2006	CAA	11	2	8	1	10	16	7	10th		18	4	13	1	17	25	13
2007	CAA	11	7	4	0	28	12	21	3rd		20	12	6	2	48	18	38	SF
2008	CAA	11	4	5	2	10	10	14	9th		18	8	8	2	23	18	26
2009	CAA	11	2	8	1	15	19	7	10th		17	5	10	2	25	27	17
2010	CAA	13	5	2	4			19	2nd		19	8	5	6	23	17	30	SF
2011	CAA	11	6	5	0	15	14	18	7th		20	11	9	0	34	24	33
2012	A-10	9	6	1	2	23	11	20	4th		20	12	3	5	42	25	41	Runners-up	R2
2013	A-10	8	5	2	1	18	7	16	3rd		21	11	8	2	30	20	35	SF	R1
2014	A-10	8	4	1	3	8	2	15	3rd		20	7	8	5	19	11	26	QF
2015	A-10	8	3	2	3	7	6	12	8th		21	7	10	4	24	27	25	Runners-up

Source for CAA record: NM Athletics^[11]
Source for Metro and Sun Belt record: VCU Athletics^[12]

Records and statistics

Attendance records

1. 2,927 v. Virginia Tech (Oct 26, 2003)
2. 2,242 v. Virginia (Sept 25, 2012)
3. 1,987 v. William & Mary (Oct 12, 2011)

Career records

Points[13] Pos. Player Career Pts. 1 Matthew Delicâte 2000–03 103 2 Ricardo Capilla 1997–99 94 3 Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi 1992–95 80 4 Orlin Weise 1985–88 72 5 Tedmore Henry 1980–82 66

Goals[13] Pos. Player Career G 1 Matthew Delicâte 2000–03 45 2 Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi 1992–95 34 3 Ricardo Capilla 1997–99 30 4 Kevin Jeffrey 1998–99 29 Orlin Weise 1985–88 29

Game-Winning Goals[13] Pos. Player Career GWG 1 Matthew Delicâte 2000–03 17 2 Ricardo Capilla 1997–99 8 3 McColm Cephas 1998–99 7 Kevin Jeffrey 1998–99 5 Mike Aust 2002–05 5 Gonzalo Segares 2001–04

NCAA Tournament results

Season	Competition	Round	Seed	Opponent	Result	Notes
1997	NCAA Tournament	R1	N/A	Georgetown	1–2
1998	NCAA Tournament	R1	N/A	South Carolina	1–2
1999	NCAA Tournament	R1	N/A	#5 Wake Forest	1–2
2002	NCAA Tournament	R2	#8	Furman	0–0	Furman wins in pen.
2003	NCAA Tournament	R2	#9	Virginia Tech	5–2
		R3	#9	#5 Indiana	0–5
2004	NCAA Tournament	R2	#16	George Washington	2–0
		R3	#16	#1 Wake Forest	2–2	VCU wins in pen.
		QF	#16	#9 UC Santa Barbara	1–4
2012	NCAA Tournament	R2	#14	Syracuse	2–3	Syracuse wins in 2OT
2013	NCAA Tournament	R1	N/A	Navy	0–3

Honors

• NCAA Men's Soccer Region 1
  • Runners-up (1): 2004
• Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament
  • Runners-up (2): 2012, 2015
• Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
  • Champions (3): 1997, 2002, 2003
  • Runners-up (2): 1999, 2001
• Colonial Athletic Association Regular Season
  • Winners (4): 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004
  • Runners-up (2): 1999, 2010
• Metro Conference Regular Season
  • Winners (1): 1993

Alumni

• Matthew Delicâte (Richmond Kickers)
• Andrew Dykstra (D.C. United)
• Jason Johnson (Houston Dynamo)
• Dominic Oduro (Columbus Crew)
• Gonzalo Segares (Chicago Fire)

References

1. VCU Brand Standards (PDF). Retrieved 2016-05-17.
2. "2009 MEN'S SOCCER IN REVIEW" (PDF). NMAthletics.com. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
3. "2004 College Cup". World News Network. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
4. "VCU fires O'Sullivan as soccer coach". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. November 17, 2009. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
5. Stern, Adam (April 26, 2010). "New coach, new swagger for men's soccer". The Commonwealth Times. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
6. Stevens, Patrick (April 26, 2011). "VCU among George Mason's permanent home-and-home foes". The Washington Times. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
7. Sullivan, Joe (February 4, 2011). "Sully's Court: My future viewing habits". Boston Globe. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
8. "Local players sometimes leave home to spice VCU-ODU rivalry". Richmond Times-Dispatch. TimesDispatch.com. January 21, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
9. Yanda, Steve (March 22, 2011). "NCAA tournament gives VCU and Richmond something in common". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
10. "2016 VCU Men's Soccer Roster". VCU Athletics. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
11. "CAA MEN'S SOCCER PAST CHAMPIONS" (PDF). Colonial Athletic Association. NMAthletics.com. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
12. "VCU Men's Soccer Year-by-Year Results". VCUAthletics.com. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
13. "VCU Men's Soccer Season Records". VCUAthletics.com. Retrieved November 6, 2011.

External links

• Official website