The Last Goals of the Women’s Soccer Season

Women’s Soccer avenged their loss to Dayton and struggles on the season, falling short of the Atlantic 10 Championship, with a resounding 2–0 victory against George Mason at Jack Coffey Field to end their 2021 campaign.

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Etienne lasered home a free kick for her first goal of the season. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)

The Women’s Soccer season has come to a close after the team played two final games, one in Ohio at the University of Dayton and the other at home versus George Mason University. Despite a difficult season, the Rams were able to close off their 2021 campaign with a win, finalizing their record at 4–12–2. 

The Rams took a tough loss while in Dayton as they were unable to score a goal against the Flyers. Fordham fought hard to do the same to their opponent. They did so successfully in the first half of the game, but they had a difficult time on the offensive side. 

The Flyers finally scored when they came back from halftime, securing their foothold over the Rams. However, his did not stop Fordham from trying to get on the board. Junior forward Caitlin Kennedy had three shot attempts, two of which were on goal. Junior forward Kristen Cocozza also had a shot attempt that was on target, as did sophomore midfielder Alexandra Taylor.

None of these attempts bursted past the goal line and the Flyers soon scored again. Sophomore goalkeeper Maria O’Sullivan was close to blocking the second attempt but failed to do so. Even so, O’Sullivan had a career-high number of saves with 8.

It was only a minute later that the Flyers scored again with a corner kick, their third goal of the game. This solidified their win, 3–0, as the Rams headed home to play their final game in the Bronx.

Fordham secured the win against the George Mason Patriots in their last game of the season. They started off strong as fifth-year midfielder Milan Bornstein and junior midfielder Danielle Etienne scored within the match’s first ten minutes.

Etienne scored in the third minute after Cocozza drew a foul that allowed for Etienne to line up for a free kick that she slotted into the top right corner. This was her first goal of the season as Fordham jumped out to a 1–0 lead.

Six minutes later, Bornstein scored her last goal for Fordham. Graduate student Hope Baisley threw the ball to senior midfielder Jenna Devine who crossed the ball over to Bornstein for her fifth goal of the season. This match was also the 84th of Bornstein’s career, as she became the women to play the most games in Fordham history while matching the school record across the men’s and women’s teams.

The Rams played strong defense during the match as sophomore defender Marissa Krenn blocked two potential goals from the Patriots. Cocozza also blocked a goal, leaving the Patriots scoreless throughout the game.

Head coach Jessica Clinton was proud of her team and how they closed the season. She said, “We saw joy and fun from our group, and we [were] focused and intentional for 90 minutes. We saw young players step into roles. We also saw older players carry the team on Sunday. I’m so proud of how we finished.”

Fordham can be proud of the tough season they had, finally being able to compete fully in person and travel once again, and this finish against George Mason was the strong close it deserved.