Before the season started, no one could really put a finger on this men’s soccer team: they were projected to finish 10th in the conference, struggled to begin the out-of-conference slate and could not find a lineup that jelled. But the Colonials hit their stride in A-10 play and came out of nowhere to claim their first A-10 regular season title in four years.
Then, when expectations were finally high heading into the A-10 tournament, GW saw its stellar season come to an end on Thursday afternoon, losing 4-0 to No. 8 VCU.
“Things just did not go our way today,” head coach Craig Jones said. “We had a few early chances that we needed to convert on. We could have been 3-0 but we conceded two back to back. It is what it is.”
In the first 30 minutes of action, GW (10-8-0) looked like the stronger side, controlling possession and getting a few dangerous opportunities that just did not find the back of the net. Junior Tobi Adewole headed a great ball to junior Garrett Heine in the box, but Heine just missed wide. A little over five minutes later, sophomore Christian Lawal sent a great pass to sophomore Koby Osei-Wusu, whose shot sailed just over the crossbar. Heine had a good look in the 16th minute, but VCU keeper Pierre Gardan made the diving save to preserve to 0-0 score.
The Colonials’ best opportunity of the morning came in the 29th minute when senior Eddie Painter had his shot saved by the diving VCU keeper.
VCU got on the board in the 34th minute as their forward’s shot from just outside the box found the upper-right corner of the net for the 1-0 lead. Two minutes later, the Colonials were unable to clear after the Rams played the ball into the box, and it eventually found the foot of VCU’s Jose Herranz, who chipped it in for a 2-0 lead.
“Every time we tried to switch things up but nothing was working. Today was just not our day,” Jones said.
GW opened up the second half pressing the Rams’ back line hard, but to no avail. Heine had a few shots blocked by VCU defenders and Lawal had a header cleared away by a defender with about 20 minutes left.
In the final five minutes, the Rams added a pair of goals from Luc Fatton and Herranz to seal the outcome, as eighth-seeded VCU advanced to face No. 4 Fordham in Friday’s first semifinal contest.
“I was disappointed we did not play the way we have been playing the past few weeks. We wanted to show what GW soccer was this year and we didn’t play well. We’ll come back strong next year and hopefully we can take the next step,” Jones said.
GW has three quarters of the roster returning, including three of the team’s four All-Conference selections.
