By Charlie Maisano
It was a bittersweet ending to the Fordham University women’s soccer team’s 2017 season. Needing two wins to remain in contention for the Atlantic 10 Tournament, the Rams were locked in for their last regular season games of the season.
The week began on Thursday in Philadelphia against the very team Fordham was trying to catch in the standings — the Saint Joseph’s University Hawks. The Hawks came into the contest with an 8-5-3 overall record and 3-3-2 in the A-10, while the Rams were 5-7-5 overall and 2-4-2 in the A-10.
With the A-10 tournament looming, Saint Joseph’s made sure to be aggressive early and pressure the Department of Defense. In the first half alone, the Hawks took 13 shots while the Rams only took four. One of those shots put Saint Joseph’s on top, courtesy of junior forward Hannah Racis in the 43rd minute.
The second half was no different, as the Hawks once again out-shot the Rams, 11-5, and exploited flaws in the defense. Sophomore goalkeeper Kelly LaMorte was able to keep the Hawks from scoring again, keeping the score close. In the last minute of regulation, it seemed that the Rams would not be able to tie the game and would be eliminated from A-10 tournament contention.
However, with their backs against the wall and their season on the line, senior Carlie Wagner would temporarily save the day. With only 36 seconds remaining in the game, fellow senior Natalie Sims crossed a pass in the box that Wagner would deflect into the goal to tie the game up at 1.
The moment was short lived though, as junior midfielder Taylor Ryan would score the game winner in double overtime to give the Hawks a 2-1 victory. That goal officially eliminated the Rams from making the A-10 tournament and essentially ended their season.
After the heart-breaking loss to Saint Joseph’s, the Rams came home on Sunday to face the second best team in the A-10, the Saint Louis Billikens. Although the game did not have any significance for playoff implications, it was a significant day for seniors Rachel Collage, Natalie Sims and Carlie Wagner. It was Senior Day at Jack Coffey Field and therefore marked the last game the three women would play in their collegiate careers. They were each honored before the game and escorted onto the field by their families.
Once the game started, the Rams seemed to still feel the affects of the loss on Thursday. The Billikens outshot them, 8-3, and the offense could not get a rhythm going. The first half ended with no score, but in the second half Fordham turned on the switch. In the 55th minute, Carlie Wagner rose to the occasion and scored her fourth goal of the season on Senior Day. Her goal marked the third straight year that a Fordham senior scored or assisted on the game-winning or tying goal.
Clara Gastaldi would add another goal in the 60th minute and the Rams held on to upset Saint Louis 2-0.
Head coach Jessica Clinton was happy with the victory and sees a lot of potential in her crew for next season.
“[The win] is bittersweet. On one end, it feels great to beat a strong team, at home, on senior day. St. Louis is a top team in the country and to play that role was tremendous. On the other hand, it showed us the potential that this team has. We played some great soccer this past season and didn’t get the results we wanted, and we played terrific yesterday against St. Louis and got the result we wanted. The A-10 is a tough conference, but we felt like we could have been in the top eight in the end,” said Clinton.
Overall, the Fordham Rams finished the season 6-8-5 and went 3-5-3 in the A-10. The Rams missed out on the A-10 Tournament for the first time in three seasons. Although the season did not end the way the team wanted to, Clinton still thought the team grew as a unit and will be ready next year to compete.
“We look at the growth of our seniors and the role they played in the end – it was outstanding,” said Clinton. “Natalie and Carlie stepped up on the field for us big time. We look at the growth of our backline, which is a backline that did not play together at all until August. We look at our goalkeeping unit, who had little to no experience and came up big for us this season. We look at our sophomores and first-year players and say wow – there is so much growth, but we know exactly how to get them to where this program needs them to be. We walk away from the 2017 season proud of how this team battled and played. We say, there was success in our approach and we also have said that we are an extremely young team. If we can mature in the next year physically, mentally, technically and tactically, we can have a top team in the A-10.”
With only three seniors departing from the team following Sunday’s game, the Rams will still bring back the majority of their players from this season. The women will now have to wait another 10 months to get back to work and try and make a run at the coveted A-10 championship.