The Fordham women’s soccer team continued their stretch of Atlantic 10 play to finish the regular season. After going 2-1-3 in the first six games, notching nine points, they traveled to face La Salle University in a physical match with 32 fouls and seven yellow cards handed out.
The Explorers came into the game winners of their last five, all conference games and all being shutout victories. The Rams made quick work to ensure they would not make it a sixth shutout in a row when graduate student Caroline Monahan found the back of the net three and a half minutes into the game, her team-high fifth of the season.
Senior and team captain Olivia Redden booted a free kick into the box, and after bouncing around, Monahan volleyed it into the goal for the score.
Just five minutes after the Fordham goal, La Salle scored one of their own for the equalizer, knotting the game up at one early on. The first yellow was handed out in the 29th minute after graduate student Cianna Elmazaj committed a foul.
Two minutes later, Fordham head coach Magnus Nilerud was handed a yellow of his own, the second in the game.
In the 32nd minute, a foul in the box led to a La Salle penalty kick, which was converted after being just out of the reach of Rams goalie Serena Mensah to put the Explorers up one.
The next yellow card came before the end of the first half when a La Salle player was awarded one after a hard hit on Elmazaj. The physical play continued in the second half, with both teams receiving two more fouls each, bringing Fordham to four and La Salle to three. Although the Rams won the penalty game, they lost the match 2-1.
Fordham returned home to honor their seniors and face Saint Joseph’s University. The Rams attacked early and often, with eight shots taken in the first 30 minutes of the game, none finding the back of the net.
Fordham was awarded a corner at the 30-minute mark taken by Monahan, who served it into the box and found junior captain Abby Doyle. Doyle’s initial shot was blocked, but the rebound found her and she squeezed it inside the right post for the score. The Ram’s defense held strong in the half, only allowing three shots to the Hawks. The lone threatening shot came with five seconds left, but Mensah made an incredible leaping tip to push the ball over the goal and preserve the lead.
Three minutes into the second half, Saint Joseph scored the equalizer after a free kick on an offside led to a breakaway goal for the Hawks. The Hawks scored the tiebreaker in the 67th minute, this time on a throw-in leading to the Saint Joseph break. The goal would be the difference in the game, with the Rams unable to find the equalizer despite opportunities toward the end of the match.
Hoping to rebound after the two losses, Fordham traveled to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) for their penultimate match of the regular season. However, just five minutes into the game, Fordham found themselves down 1-0 after an early VCU goal. VCU continued to pressure the Fordham defense, netting their second goal in the 19th minute and third at the 24th to go up 3-0 before Fordham took a shot.
The second half was much of the same for Fordham, with VCU pressuring the entire time and Fordham’s second shot of the game not coming until inside the 61st minute. Fordham’s lone goal of the game came in the 85th minute when junior Carmen Hardwick found freshman Lena Johnsen for her fourth goal of the season. The loss made it three in a row for the Rams.
Fordham again found themselves down three minutes into their final game of the season on Sunday against the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass).
The match stayed 1-0 for most of the game until UMass added another on the board in the 84th minute to seal the win for the Minutewomen, as they handed Fordham their fourth straight loss to end the season.
The Rams end coach Nilerud’s second season in charge with a 4-10-4 overall record and 2-5-3 in the A-10, missing the conference tournament after finishing in 10th with nine points.
