Oct. 28, 2008

NORFOLK, VA-- The ODU Soccer Monarchs (8-5-2/5-2-1) hit the road to battle the VCU Rams (7-6-2/3-3-2) Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Richmond. The Monarchs are currently in second place with 16 points, just two behind CAA leader UNC Wilmington.

The Rams are led by junior Jorit Loehr with 12 points on the year including 5 goals and 2 assists. Senior midfielder Gerson Dos Santos and junior forward Owusu Sekyere are tied for first in the CAA in assists with five each. Senior Andrew Dykstra leads the Rams in goal with 50 saves in 15 games this season. He has a 1.03 goals against average and four shutouts on the year

The Monarchs are coming off a thrilling week in which they recorded a pair of double overtime victories at home. Last Wednesday, ODU downed JMU 2-1 in the second overtime with Ambane Emmanuel's goal. On Saturday, the Monarchs outlasted Northeastern 2-1 in another double overtime affair. This time, Nane Joseph's two goals propelled ODU to victory.

The team is led by Steffen Rabben who assisted on both goals in ODU's 2-1 overtime win against JMU on Wednesday. Rabben leads the team with five goals, two assists and 12 points. Trevor Banks is second with four goals and two assists for ten total points.

ODU has used two keepers after the pre-season injury to All-CAA keeper Evan Newton. Sophomore Brennan Kirkpatrick has a 0.53 goals against average and three shutouts this season in seven games, while freshman Michael Roura has a 0.85 goals against average and four shutouts in eight games.

ODU leads VCU 21-7-4 in the all-time series. Last year in Norfolk, the Monarchs defeated the Rams 2-1 in 2OT. They met again in the CAA semifinal in Virginia Beach with ODU again coming out on top 2-1.

CAA CURRENT STANDINGS
UNCW     6-2     9-7   18 pts
ODU      5-2-1  8-5-2  16 pts
Drexel   4-1-3  6-4-5  15 pts
W&M      4-4    8-5-2  12 pts
Towson   3-2-3  7-4-3  12 pts
NU       3-2-3  5-4-6  12 pts
VCU      3-3-2  7-6-2  11 pts
Hofstra  3-3-2  4-8-3  11 pts
GMU      3-4-1  7-6-2  10 pts
JMU      3-4-1  6-6-3  10 pts
Delaware 1-6-1  2-11-3  4 pts
Ga. State 0-5-3  4-7-4	 3 pts