Drexel University
Virginia Commonwealth
Men's Soccer Scores Third Straight Win, 1-0, at VCU
10/7/2007 5:19:40 PM | Men's Soccer
Richmond, Va. - Transfer Carlos Ruthner scored his second goal in as many matches this weekend and the Drexel (5-2-2, 2-0) defense held on for a 1-0 win over Virginia Commonwealth (5-2-2, 1-1 CAA), the team's third straight victory. The Rams entered t he match ranked fourth in the South Atlantic Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Ruthner, who also scored Drexel's first goal at James Madison on Friday, took a feed from Anthony Bafile in the box in the 48th minute and drove a shot past keeper Andrew Dykstra to give Drexel a 1-0 lead. The Dragons packed in their defense in the final 15 minutes of the match and withstood a barrage of shots from the Rams, who outshot Drexel 20-9 in the contest, to secure the team's 2-0 start in conference play.
Bafile announced Drexel's presence with authority early in the contest when he shook free in the middle of the field and blasted a shot from 20 yards out that just went high of the net.
Drexel keeper Cory Robertson made two stops in the match for his second shutout of the season. His best save of the contest game in the 28th mintue when the Rams' Owusu Sekyere cut his way through the Dragons' defense and pushed a pass across to Sven Meusch. But Robertson made a diving stop of Meusch's shot to preserve the lead.
Virginia Commonwealth narrowly missed another equalizer in the 71st minute when Pat Viray set up C.J. Gehin-Scott in the box, but Gehin-Scott's shot went wide right of the net. The Dragons nearly added an insurance goal near the end of the game when Thiago Assumpcao fed Nate Baker for a one-on-one with Dykstra. Baker got under his shot a bit too much and it went high of the net.
The Dragon defense held up against 13 shots and four corner kicks by Virginia Commonwealth in the second half. The Rams had not lost in their last four matches entering the game and won their conference opener against Delaware 5-0 on Friday.
Drexel is back in action at Vidas Field next weekend, taking on Towson at 7:00 p.m.
