Last week, Fordham Men’s Soccer played against the 15th seed in the country, Atlantic 10 rival Saint Louis University. Unfortunately, the Rams fell to the Billikens by a 2–0 scoreline.

Saint Louis opened the scoring in the 11th minute after a couple of clever passes that eventually found their way to Simon Beecher, who then executed a give and go with John Klein. Beecher evaded sophomore goalkeeper Nick Buchholz and had an easy tap-in for his sixth goal of the season, taking the lead against the Rams. 

Saint Louis then doubled the score in the 31st minute. The Billikens had a free kick from long distance, which Klein whipped into the box. The ball found Mujeeb Murana’s head on the corner of the six-yard box, and he plastered it into the lower right corner for his second goal of the year. 

That was the final goal that Fordham conceded in the match, as Buchholz had a busy night in goal with a career-high nine saves. In addition, graduate student Luke McNamara was credited with a defender save when he cleared the ball off the goal line to prevent it from becoming a 3–0 scoreline. Overall, Saint Louis outshot the Rams 18 to eight. Saint Louis also had the majority of shots on goal, with 12 in comparison to Fordham’s one.

When asked about the defeat, head coach Carlo Acquista said that some positives could be drawn from the match. He praised the team’s performance during the second half, saying that several adjustments were made, creating a few quality chances.

Over the past couple of games, Fordham has usually been the first to concede. When asked if the team was just unlucky or if some defensive adjustments needed to be made, Acquista replied, “That’s the million-dollar question that every coach asks when that happens.” 

Regardless, he maintained that the team has talked about and even trained for such a situation through practice scenarios and game simulations in which the Rams are already down by a goal. Acquista also attributes it to a lack of finishing where “We get opportunities [of our own] and we don’t put them away and then we give up one goal.”

With this defeat, the Rams are now 3–7–1 overall with a 1–2 conference record. However, Acquista remained optimistic when asked about the team’s chances to qualify for the Atlantic 10 championship and to compete for the title: “The goal is to always reach the A-10 playoffs, and then from there, it’s just the knockout stages where anything can happen.” 

The Rams are back in action Wednesday against Davidson College. When asked about what the team can improve on in facing another A-10 rival, Acquista said, “Scoring first, just like we did against Seton Hall. We have the ability; it’s just the matter of scoring first.” The Rams will play at home at Jack Coffey Field at 7:00 p.m. and can also be streamed via ESPN+.