Men's soccer team's 3-0 loss to GW hurts playoff chances

The University of Richmond men's soccer team's chances of earning an Atlantic-10 tournament berth were significantly diminished after a 3-0 loss to George Washington University Saturday night.

The Spiders must win their next two games in order to qualify for the A-10 tournament. With the win, the Colonials moved into fifth place in the conference standings with 11 points. The top six teams advance to the tournament.

"We need six points," said redshirt freshman Brock Tomlinson, who ended the game with five saves. "All we can do is win and hopefully everything will fall into place."

All three goals were scored during a 10-minute span during the second half. The first and last goals were scored by junior Andy Stadler, giving him a conference leading 14 goals for the year.

"I thought we had a great chance to get back into the game after the first goal," said Richmond coach Jeff Gettler. "I still thought we had a chance after the second, but after the third it was going to be really hard."

Stadler's first goal came at the 64th minute of play when he headed in a shot by redshirt junior Luke Wildy.

Ten minutes later, Stadler took a pass from junior Kyle Albrecht and beat Tomlinson for his second goal of the game.

Sophomore Steve Wujek scored the other goal at the 69th minute. Albrecht took a corner kick that went to Wujek, who headed the ball into the goal.

"[The second half] was tough with so many restarts," Tomlinson said. "It was unlucky that we gave away a cheap first goal."

The goals were also due in part to a shift in philosophy by Gettler during the second half.

"We pushed some extra people forward because we needed to win and not a tie," Gettler said.

The Spiders failed to convert on their best chance of scoring a goal. Senior Delano Pierre stole a pass and had a breakaway, but his shot sailed over the goal with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half.

Gettler said it was frustrating not being able to convert the chances.

"The longer the game went," he said, "the more frustrating it became because if we had scored, I think we would have held on to win."

Four yellow cards were given out during the game, two to each side. Colonials freshmen Ryan Ruffing received one at the 12th minute and Jake Davis received one at the 46th minute. Richmond junior Russell Himelein received one at the 58th minute and senior Scott Loesser received one at the 81st minute.

The Spiders will try to keep their slim chances alive when they play St. Bonaventure University at home at 7 p.m. on Friday and close out the regular season with a home game against Duquesne University at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9.

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu