October 30, 2008

RAMS’ SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE WITH THRILLING 2-1 VICTORY AT JMU
Gioeli, Hardison shine in final career game for VCU
Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Virginia Commonwealth University women’s soccer did what it needed to do to make a push for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. Unfortunately for the Rams, Hofstra University was not able to take care of the other part.

Senior Francesca Gioeli (New York, N.Y.) headed in a goal with 2:22 left in the second overtime to give the Black and Gold a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Dukes of James Madison in CAA women’s soccer action on Thursday evening.

In order to make their 14th straight CAA Tournament appearance, the Rams needed Hofstra to defeat Northeastern, but the Huskies were able to come up with a 2-1 road victory in overtime to secure the sixth and final spot in the postseason.

The victory gave VCU a final record of 9-9-1 with a 5-5-1 mark in CAA play, while James Madison heads into the conference tournament with a 12-5-2 mark and 8-3-0 in conference action.

The Dukes made a quick statement as Cate Tisinger and Teresa Rynier set up Corky Julien, who dribbled through the box and blasted a shot into the top left corner to give James Madison a 1-0 lead in just the 11th minute.

JMU continued to control the tempo of the first half, out shooting VCU by a tally of 7-3, but the Black and Gold defense stayed close as the two teams headed to the locker rooms with JMU maintaining its 1-0 advantage.

It must have been a great halftime speech as Gioeli came out and found standout sophomore Laurel Pastor (Springfield, Va.) who rocketed a shot from 10 yards out into the left corner to even the score at 1-1 in the 53rd minute.

The two teams would trade possession through much of the second half and headed into the first overtime with the scoreboard still reading 1-1.

After JMU dominated the first overtime with seven shots in 10 minutes, the Rams defense flexed its muscle in the second overtime and staged off the potent Dukes offense long enough for senior Megan Flanagan (Franktown, Colo.) to find Gioeli for a close-range header to give VCU a thrilling 2-1 victory.

Gioeli and classmate Lauren Hardison (Midlothian, Va.) (right) were the story as Gioeli tallied a career-high three points in her last game in the Black and Gold. Hardison was outstanding in goal notching nine saves after facing 21 shots on the evening.

The game marks the final game for eight VCU seniors who gave their all during their outstanding four-year careers.

Flanagan, Gioeli, Hardison, Michelle Schuler (Skillman, N.J.), Stephanie Power (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia), Meg Khandan-Barani (Radford, Va.), Samara Stephen-Dowd (Vienna, Va.) and Kali Van Covern (Waynesboro, Va.) all saw their outstanding Ram careers come to a close.

The group tallied 43 wins during its time in Richmond, highlighted by a run to the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament after posting the program’s first NCAA Tournament win over Clemson in the first round by a score of 3-1.