Two amazing victories marked last-night incredible performances of our our Coed Volleyball and Women’s 5on5 Soccer teams. Our Men’s Soccer team also showed an excellent perfomance on the field but, unfortunately, our Gladiators missed the win by a thread.

COED VOLLEYBALL
The so long-awaited victory finally came for our Coed Volleyball team who, in the past few months, had a few problems in finding the right team balance. But last night, our Gladiators finally found the perfect match that led them to win the game.

JCU played against Vigna Pia (VPB) and earned an important 3-1 win over their rival.

“Everyone played tonight in one way or another,” coach Papari pointed out. “All of the players gave their decisive contribution. We finally won as a team, and I am really happy about that.”

All the four sets were hardly fought, but JCU was always able to be one step ahead of VPB, winning the first set, 25-18 and the second set, 25-22.

A light drop in the third set allowed VPB to take the win 23-25, but JCU fought hard until the very last point. Indeed, there was nothing to do for the opposing team who, this time, fell to JCU game. Our Gladiators closed the game, winning the last set 25-17.

“There is still a lot of work to do in order to improve, but tonight, we finally showed to ourselves that if we commit, we can obtain good results,” Papari concluded.

Congratulations, Gladiators! This is the right spirit to keep winning! And we are sure that this victory is the perfect boost for our Women team who will play at the International Sports Festival in Athens in two days!

MVP – Veronica Rusich

WOMEN’S 5on5 SOCCER
While our Coed Volleyball team was winning at Virgilio court, JCU Women’s 5on5 Soccer team was battling at Trastevere Stadium against The University of Foro Italico (UFI), the current top team in the league ranking of the Universities of Rome Championship.

However, nothing is too tough for our ladies to be stopped, and they brought home a significant 4-1 over UFI, which now took the lady in 2nd place tied with The American University of Rome.

The game was pretty intense since the very first minutes, and our Lady Gladiators never gave in for a second and gave their best for the entire time.

First half of the game was quite balanced with different opportunities for both teams. However, UFI was able to score first and gain the advantage due to a wrong restart from JCU. But our ladies were able to counter-attack immediately, and they overturned the result thanks to the scores of our midfielder Keil and forward Moulton. The two teams went halfway with the temporary result of 2-1.

The second half was kind of one-way. Despite UFI numerous attempts to tie the result, JCU never lost the right focus and determination. The other two goals arrived almost at the beginning of the second half thanks again to Keil and then Thompson.

JCU midfielder Isabella Thomspon’s goal (#10) – JCU vs UFI – March 25, 2019

“It was a really balanced game, and we gave our best. It was not easy to win against such a strong team as UFI, but we gave proof of our high level and teamwork,” coach Farina commented at the end of the game.

Congratulations, ladies! We are proud of you!

We were also really glad to see our former captain Valeria Muzzin and old-time Lady Gladiator Claudia Calselli at the field to support our ladies in this important match, “Once a Gladiator, always a Gladiator!”

MVP – Rachael Moulton

MEN’S SOCCER
From the Futbolclub Stadium, it came the news that our Men’s Soccer team missed the victory against LUISS by a thread.

The game ended 3-2 in favor of the opponents, but our Gladiators gave a high-quality performance.

The action mostly developed during the first half of the game. Despite JCU played really well in the first half, luck wasn’t on its side, and our Gladiators were immeditaly down by two goals. However, JCU didn’t give up and was able to score back thanks to our forward Haddad.

A second free-kick in favor of LUISS allowed the team to score again, but JCU reacted, and Haddad scored back. The two teams went halftime on the temporary result of 3-2.

Second half was quite flat, and nothing much happened if not for an incredible action realized by our forward Davoli. However, LUISS goalkeeper stopped the ball at 1 meter inside the goalpost, but that didn’t count as a goal for the referee.

“We played an excellent game despite some unlucky circumstance against a good opponent,” coach Concari affirmed. “We deserved to win.”

Good job, Gladiators! And keep working hard!

MVP – Mohamed Haddad