By Charlie Maisano
The Fordham women’s soccer team’s time in the A-10 Tournament was short lived after a successful 2018 season.
The Rams fell to the Saint Joseph’s Hawks, 2-0, in Philadelphia on Saturday night and were eliminated from the playoffs. Saint Joseph’s Taylor Ryan scored a goal in the first half, while Morgan Bower put the ball in the back of the net in the second half to put Fordham away in their first ever home A-10 Championship match.
Ryan’s goal came in the 15th minute thanks to teammate Paige Bergman’s free kick. The kick entered the center of the box where Ryan was waiting. She leaped and proceeded to head the ball inside the left post for her third goal of the season.
Fordham was unable to answer in the first half and went into the locker room at halftime with no shots on goal. When the team came back out from the break, Saint Joseph’s doubled their lead fairly quickly.
Bower, who scored a goal against the Rams at Jack Coffey Field when they met in the regular season, scored only three minutes into the second half. After she collected a pass from Dakota Mills, Gabrielle Vagnozzi saw Bower cutting down the left side of the field. Vagnozzi instantly passed her the ball and Bower did the rest. While on the run, she took a shot near the box, and it screamed past goalie Kelly LaMorte on the right side of the net.
In desperation mode, the Rams went on the attack the rest of the game in order to try and save their season. In the span of three minutes, Fordham had three chances to score but was unable to get the ball past Saint Joseph’s goalkeeper Grace Bendon.
In the 50th minute, Claudia Cuicani had her long shot saved by Bendon on the right side of the goal. Amanda Miller was next in the 51st minute, as her shot hit the cross bar and deflected away from the goal. To cap off the three-minute spurt, captain Brooke Salmon’s header off a free kick in the 53rd minute went right into the hands of Bendon and ended the Fordham threat.
For the second time this season, the Rams were shut out by Bendon and the Hawks and combined for only six shots on goal in both games. With the loss, the Rams ended the year with a 9-9-1 overall record and finished 6-3-1 in conference play.
This defeat marks the final time that the seniors on the squad will put on a Fordham uniform. During their time at Fordham, they appeared in one A-10 Final, made it to three A-10 tournaments, and won 38 games. Captain Brooke Salmon also set a program record by appearing in 80 games over the course of her collegiate career.
The loss may hurt now, but the Rams have plenty to look forward to in the 2019 season. They will look to build on the progress made this season and get back to the A-10 Tournament for a second straight year.
