Over the past week, the Fordham Men’s Soccer team continued its season with three matches against Rider University, George Washington University and Seton Hall University. Heading into this week, the Rams had won their previous match against La Salle by the scoreline of 2–1.

Unfortunately, the Rams could not make it two wins in a row as they lost to Rider by the score of 4–3. In this game, Fordham conceded within the first minute with Zaki Alibou setting the ball up for Adel Al-Masude to shoot from 25 yards out. The Rams’ sophomore defender, Galen Flynn, performed the only other action in the first half after halftime, Fordham began to pick up its attack. Graduate student defender Matt Sloan made a run into the Rider box and was fouled, drawing a penalty for the Rams and a chance to equalize the game. Sloan coolly slotted his second goal of the season in the penalty to tie the score at 1–1.

The tie only lasted until Al-Masude headed in his second goal of the game during the 54th minute, restoring the lead to Rider. The Rams immediately responded within three minutes when Sloan collected a loose ball in the box and crossed it into sophomore midfielder Max Rogers who slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal to even the score at 2–2. This strike by Rogers gave him his first goal of the season.

Once again, the deadlock only lasted a couple of minutes because Rider scored again in the 61st minute with Tyrrell Moore to give them a 3–2 lead with 30 minutes left in the game. Fordham equalized in the 80th minute courtesy of sophomore defender Galen Flynn. That goal was initiated when graduate student forward Alberto Pangrazzi found senior midfielder Paul Makaj in the box. Makaj quickly passed the ball to Flynn, who slotted it into the bottom left corner to give Fordham the equalizer and his first goal of the season. The tie lasted for only one minute with Rider scoring the winning goal in the 81st minute. Sergio Aguinaga crossed the ball into the box from near the corner flag into the back post where Moore headed the ball to Taner Bay who put it into the back of the net. Fordham tried to equalize in the final minutes of the game with three shots, but to no avail.

Fordham’s next match was against Atlantic 10 rival George Washington. The Rams conceded first in the 41st minute with Tom Cooklin who chipped his shot past junior goalkeeper Callum James to give George Washington the 1–0 lead. The Rams responded right before halftime in the 44th minute where they were awarded a penalty due to a handball in the penalty area by George Washington. Rogers took the kick from the spot and converted the penalty to make it 1–1 to head into halftime. It remained a stalemate until the 71st minute where Georgetown scored the winning goal courtesy of Aaron Kronenberg, who was at the back post during a corner kick and tapped the ball into the back of the net.

Fordham had several chances to equalize but were unable to convert with GW’s goalkeeper Justin Grady making the saves to keep their lead. In the 84th minute, Flynn got loose while trying to get the long ball where he was fouled by Hrolfurl Sveinsson just outside the box. The foul produced a red card, which meant that the Rams now had a number advantage to hunt down the equalizer in the final minutes. Their best chance after the red card was in the final minute. With 17 seconds left, Fordham had a free kick just outside the box and Rogers took the shot. The shot was on target, but Grady was able to block the shot to the right post to seal the loss for the Rams.

The Rams’ final game was against Seton Hall. The Rams were first on the scoresheet within eight minutes with sophomore defender/midfielder Florian Deletioglu. Rogers passed the ball to Deletioglu who then slotted it into the bottom right corner from outside the box to give the Rams the lead and his first goal of the season. Fordham kept on the pressure and, in the 24th minute, they doubled their advantage. Rogers took a shot, which deflected off the crossbar and fell to Deletioglu who scored again, giving himself a brace and his second goal of the season.

However in the second half, Seton Hall struck back. In the span of less than a minute, they scored two penalties courtesy of Johannes Pex to tie the game 2–2. Each team then had a chance to take the lead but were unable to as time was winding down. After 90 minutes, the game was still deadlocked at 2–2 and we went into extra time. We didn’t have to wait long. Three minutes into extra time, Rogers scored the winning goal. The Rams had a free-kick which was taken by Sloan. Sloan crossed the ball into the box where Rogers was unmarked and put the ball into the back of the net to give the Rams the win.

With their extra-time win, the Rams are now 3–6–1 overall with a 1–1 conference record. The Rams are back in action next week with a match against A-10 conference rivals Saint Louis, who are the 15th ranked in the country, on Saturday at 8:00 PM.