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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.

VCU Rams men's soccer
2022 VCU Rams men's soccer team
Founded	1978
University	Virginia Commonwealth University
Head coach	Dave Giffard (13th season)
Conference	A-10
Location	Richmond, Virginia
Stadium	Sports Backers Stadium (Capacity: 3,250)
Nickname	Rams
Colors	Black and gold[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
2004
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
2003, 2004
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1997, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2017
NCAA Tournament appearances
1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2017
Conference Tournament championships
1997, 2002, 2003
Conference Regular Season championships
1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2018

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. Under Giffard, the Rams have qualified for three NCAA Tournaments, two as national seeds, and have won one Atlantic 10 Regular Season title. As of 2022, Giffard is the second longest tenured head coach in program history.

History

Beginning in 1978, Virginia Commonwealth University fielded an NCAA Division I men's varsity soccer program that competed independently,[2] joining the Sun Belt Conference in 1979.[3] Ben Satterfield was the team's initial head coach and was at the helm until the end of the 1982 season. Ben Satterfield's teams got progressively better, and in 1981, was ranked #1 in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and was in the NCAA Division I Top 25 in the nation. VCU had a bye going into the 1981 Sun Belt Tournament with a 12–5–3 record, and lost a heart-breaker to University of South Alabama 2–1, ending their season. Roosevelt Lundy took over in 1983, and struggled to do well in the conference.

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.[3]

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.[3]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 29, 2019[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA John Ermini 1 GK  USA Alex Fetterly 2 DF  JPN Ryo Shimazaki 3 DF  NOR Ulrik Edvardsen 4 DF  JAM Zeron Sewell 5 MF  USA Simon Fitch 7 MF  USA Myles Brown 8 FW  COD Biska Biyombo 10 MF  SEN Fiorre Mane 11 MF  ESP Fortia Munts 13 FW  USA Maverick McGann 14 FW  USA Jared Greene 15 DF  USA Toranosuke Abe 16 MF  JAM Oquin Robinson 17 DF  USA Austin Graham 18 DF  USA Jared Valdes

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF  USA Patrick Gyamfi 20 MF  HKG Kyle Simon 21 FW  NGA Martin Ngoh 22 MF  USA Anthony Gonnella 23 GK  CRC Mario Sequeira 24 FW  USA Andy Mensah 25 DF  USA Ethan Manheim 26 MF  USA Jacob Menke 28 DF  USA Nick Barahona 29 FW  USA Wladimir Gasant 30 MF  BDI Ndayizeye Bonere 31 DF  USA Roy Cox 32 DF  USA Kelley Walters 33 MF  JPN Yugo Suzuki 34 MF  USA Alex Wichmann 35 MF  BRA Celio Pompeu

Team management

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Dave Giffard
Assistant Coach	Brett Teach
Assistant Coach	Lucas Paulini
Director of Player Development	Ronnie Pascale
Director of Student Development	Greg Simmonds
Student Assistant Coach	Alex Fetterly

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

This is a list of the most recent seasons at VCU.

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Wooden Spoon

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
1979
1980	Sun Belt
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987		3	0	3	0			3	6th		20	11	7	2			35	SF
1988		3	1	2	0			3	4th		17	9	6	2			29	SF
1989		3	1	1	1			4	3rd		19	8	10	1			25	SF
1990		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		5	0	2	2			2	5th		18	5	11	2			17
1993		5	4	1	0			12	1st		18	15	3	0			45	SF
1994		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		8	2	5	1	9	16	7	6th		19	6	9	4	24	26	22	QF
1997		10	4	4	2	15	11	14	3rd		23	15	4	4	40	23	49	Champions	R2
1998		8	7	0	1	21	7	22	1st		21	12	6	3	38	25	39	SF	R1
1999		8	6	2	0	20	8	18	2nd		22	14	7	1	46	25	43	Runners-up	R1
2000		8	2	3	3	10	11	9	6th		21	9	8	4	22	23	31	SF
2001		5	2	2	1	7	7	7	4th		21	8	10	3	32	26	27	Runners-up
2002		9	7	1	1	21	6	22	1st		22	15	5	1	44	20	46	Champions	R3
2003		9	8	1	0	23	4	24	1st		22	17	5	0	50	24	51	Champions	R4
2004		9	7	1	1	14	6	22	1st		21	12	6	3	36	22	39	SF	QF
2005		11	4	3	4	11	7	16	4th		18	6	10	4	20	25	22	QF
2006		11	2	8	1	10	16	7	10th		18	4	13	1	17	25	13
2007		11	7	4	0	28	12	21	3rd		20	12	6	2	48	18	38	SF
2008		11	4	5	2	10	10	14	9th		18	8	8	2	23	18	26
2009		11	2	8	1	15	19	7	10th		17	5	10	2	25	27	17
2010		13	5	2	4			19	2nd		19	8	5	6	23	17	30	SF
2011		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		8	5	2	1	18	7	16	3rd		21	11	8	2	30	20	35	SF	R1
2014		8	4	1	3	8	2	15	3rd		20	7	8	5	19	11	26	QF
2015		8	3	2	3	7	6	12	8th		21	7	10	4	24	27	25	Runners-up
2016		8	4	3	1	12	8	13	5th		21	8	9	4	27	29	28	Runners-up
2017		8	6	2	0			18	2nd		18	12	6	0			36	Runners-up	R2
2018		8	6	1	1			19	1st		18	10	6	2			32	SF
2019		8	6	1	1			19	2nd		18	7	8	3
2020		6	3	2	1			10	6th		9	4	3	2
2021		8	4	3	1			13	4th		18	9	7	2
2022		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	TBD		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	TBD	TBD

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
2017	NCAA Tournament	R2	#16	Butler	2–3

Honors

• NCAA Men's Soccer Region 1
  • Runners-up (1): 2004
• Atlantic 10 Conference Regular Season
  • Winners (1): 2018
  • Runners-up (1): 2017
• Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament
  • Runners-up (3): 2012, 2015, 2016
• 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

References

External links

• Official website

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