By Alvin Halimwidjaya
Coming into Friday night, the Men’s soccer team was 1-2-1, with only one goal to their name in two weeks of play. However, the team quickly improved its situation and got their offense going, beating Lafayette 4-0 at Oaks Stadium in Easton, Pennsylvania.
“[The win] was very important for us,” said junior forward Janos Loebe. “We scored in the first minute, which took a lot of pressure from us, and it was also important that we finally scored on a set piece! We still have a lot of work to do but it was a good feeling, and we definitely showed how much potential we have on this team.”
Janos spearheaded the team’s offensive effort, attempting five shots and recording one goal, along with two assists. Senior defender Christopher Bazzini led the team with two goals, posting his first career multi-goal game, while senior forward Jannik Loebe netted a goal as well. Junior Rashid Nuhu had three saves in goal, as he posted his third clean sheet of the season.
Fordham jumped to an early lead almost immediately as Bazzini netted his first goal of the season at the 1:17 mark of the contest. A Jannik Loebe corner kick found its way to defender Matthew Lewis, who then found Bazzini at the top of the half circle for him to power it in the left side of the goal.
Bazzini struck again with a header in the 19th minute, as Janos Loebe sent a corner kick his way for their first goal off a set piece for the season. The Rams kept pressing and found the back of the net yet again early in the second half, where a give-and-go between the Loebe brothers allowed Jannik to slot in his first goal of the season from 15 yards out in the 49th minute.
The Rams capped off their scoring with a fourth goal, as Janos Loebe collected a pass from sophomore midfielder Matthew McCann and scored on a turnaround shot in the 83rd minute, recording his second goal of the season. That was McCann’s first career assist. Fordham ended with seven of 13 shots on goal, while Lafayette had four of nine shots on goal.
With two weeks to go before the Rams start getting into Atlantic 10 matchups, Loebe sees these non-conference games as valuable experiences as the season continues.
“The non-conference games are also very important for us; we want to get positive results every single game,” said Janos. If we do so, we get more confident, which will help us when the A-10 matchups start. As I said, we still have a lot of work to do, but I have a good feeling that we will end our non-conference season with some good results and start the A-10 season strong!”
The Men’s Soccer home opener will be on Wednesday, Sept. 13, when the Rams host Marist at 7:00 p.m.
