ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham men’s soccer team lost a pair of matches last week, dropping its record to 2-6 on the year. The team has now lost five straight matches and four of those five were decided by one goal; the Rams have been mired in quite a slump.

After suffering a one goal defeat at home to the Stony Brook Seawolves, the Rams traveled to Philadelphia to take on Temple. The match began fairly evenly, as both teams recorded five first half shots and neither team was able to separate from the other. The Rams got a huge chance to take the lead in the second half, but junior Ollie Kelly’s shot in the 60th minute hit the crossbar. Temple would score in the 75th minute off of a feed from the corner, giving the Owls a 1-0 win and the Rams their fourth consecutive one-goal loss.

The match against Columbia offered yet another tough challenge for Fordham. The Lions entered the match on a four game winning streak, quite the opposite of the Rams’ equally long losing streak. Compounding the challenge was the loss of senior Nathaniel Bekoe, who was injured in the Temple game.

“I think the frustrating part right now is we’ve had guys in and out of the lineup through injury,” head coach Jim McElderry said. “It’s been really tough to get a continuity within our starting lineup and our rotation system has changed game to game. It’s tough for guys to jump in and out and play as well as they are capable of.”

Those streaks clearly meant nothing in the first half as both teams were held scoreless. The Rams registered six first half shots to Columbia’s five. Both teams were awarded a pair of corner kicks and both goalkeepers made a pair of saves. The first half was very much neck and neck. The second half, though, would continue the relative streaks of both teams.

“I thought for the first half we played really well,” McElderry said. “I thought we were as good as them, created a couple more chances than them, but then the game changed.”

Columbia would score in the 52nd minute of the match. The Lions made a deep run into their attacking third that drew a foul on Fordham. Antonio Matarazzo took the free kick from 24 yards out and put it in the back of the net to give Columbia a 1-0 lead.

“I thought we made an unneccessary foul and they scored on the direct free kick, which has happened to us a couple times this year, which is disappointing,” McElderry said. “Then we were just chasing the game.”

The Rams showed a great deal of resolve, pressing an attack of their own and trying to find an equalizer. Fordham earned a free kick in the 53rd minute and another in the 60th, but was unable to convert to tie the game.

The Lions took advantage of the Rams’ willingness to press and added an insurance goal in the 83rd minute. The second half clearly wore down the Rams, as Columbia would finish with a 14-8 advantage in shots.

“The second goal we conceded I wasn’t too worried about because we were pressing and you’ve got to take a chance,” McElderry said. “We played very well for the first half but we’ve got to find ways to put together a whole game if we want to be successful.”

The team put forth an impressive effort, but was unable to break out of its slump against a very hot Columbia team, losing 2-0.

“To be honest, the guys have put forward a great effort and I don’t have too many complaints,” McElderry said. “In some ways I wish I did because I’d have something to be angry about.”

The Rams will look to end their losing streak this week as they take on rival Manhattan on Oct. 2 and St. Louis on Oct. 11.

“The guys have trained hard and I expect that to continue,” McElderry said. “Hopefully we can get going when our conference season starts in two weeks.”