RICHMOND, Va. - Senior forward Erica Rodgers scored her first two goals of the season to lead UNC Wilmington to a 4-1 victory over Virginia Commonwealth in Colonial Athletic Association women's soccer at Sunday at Sports Backer Stadium.

The Seahawks improved to 7-5 overall and 3-1 in CAA action as they won their third straight road contest and picked up their first win in eight visits to Richmond. The Rams, meanwhile, dropped to 5-5-2 on the season as they slipped to 1-2-1 in league play.

"We made some changes to our lineup today and our depth and balance really shined through in what was a great team victory," said UNCW Head Coach Paul Cairney. "Having Erica (Rodgers) and Megan (Novak) score in the first half really provided us with a boost and we did a good job of handling VCU's pressure when they pushed forward early in the second half. Erica's penalty kick midway through the second frame really eased some of the pressure and I was particularly proud to see us regain our three-goal lead so quickly after the Rams scored later in the second half to keep the game out of reach."

Rodgers gave UNCW a 1-0 lead just 3:56 into the contest as she took a feed from sophomore midfielder Kelly Dodd and ripped a shot from 10 yards out into the upper right-hand corner of the net for her first goal of the season.

Junior midfielder Megan Novak doubled the UNCW lead to 2-0 in the 28th minute as she converted a feed from freshman forward Stephanie Rose in close quarters for her second goal in as many games.   

Rodgers added her second goal of the contest in the 77th minute when she converted a penalty kick opportunity that was created on a VCU foul inside the box to make it 3-0 UNCW.

The Rams got on the board at 82:53 mark as sophomore forward Heather Hovanesian scored her fourth goal of the season to make a 3-1 contest.

The Seahawks quickly regained their three-goal lead as senior midfielder Ashley Myers headed home a cross from sophomore midfielder Erin Pardini just nine seconds after Hovanesian's tally to close out the scoring.

UNCW out-shot VCU, 12-7, while the Rams were awarded four of the six corner kicks taken in the contest. UNCW freshman keeper Caitlin Hunter made two saves to pick up her second victory of the season while senior Kate Hudson was credited with four stops for VCU.

Both teams return to CAA action Friday in 7 p.m. kickoffs. UNCW hosts Towson while VCU is at Drexel.