By Charlie Maisano

It seems like the Fordham women’s soccer team has forgotten what it feels like to lose.

The Rams wrapped up their long five-game homestand by winning the last four games in dominant fashion. They won the four games by a combined score of 9-0 and outshot their opponents 64-24. The final two games at Jack Coffey Field were also the first conference match-ups of the season, making it two years in a row the Rams have started Atlantic 10 Conference play at 2-0. The Rams continued their road winning streak with wins over Davidson and Rhode Island.

With the morale at a season high, the team embarked on their first road trip in over three weeks. The first game of the weekend came last Thursday in North Carolina against the Davidson Wildcats. The Rams entered the contest with a 5-5 record, while the Wildcats came in at 2-7 and winless in the A-10 (0-2).

To get things started, Fordham received some help from the struggling Wildcats. In the 12th minute, Davidson scored an own goal after misplaying a long ball from sophomore Milan Bornstein. Senior Clara Gastaldi doubled the lead with a spinning shot that made its way past Davidson goalie Sarah L’Hommedieu in the 36th minute.

After Davidson finished the first half with a goal of their own, Fordham ramped up the pace in the second half. Sophomore Maura Holst gave the Rams a two-goal lead again in the 55th minute with a shot right in front of the net. Twelve minutes later, senior Lane Cronin scored her first goal of the season to cement the 4-1 victory for Fordham.

The Rams made history with their commanding win over the Wildcats. Not only did they extend their winning streak to five games, but they improved their A-10 record to 3-0. That is the best start to conference play for the program since 2008.

Head coach Jessica Clinton did not expect the offensive explosion against Davidson but does expect her team to wreak havoc in the A-10 going forward.
“Scoring [four] against Davidson was never the plan, but we had a good night getting in behind their back line and creating chaos in front of goal,” said Clinton. “If we can play with that type of intent and focus, I think that we would be a hard team as we continue in conference play.”

Fordham did just that in Kingston, R.I. on Sunday to end the road trip. They edged out winless Rhode Island, 1-0, in this year’s edition of the Battle of the Rams. It was a defensive match up all afternoon until Cronin scored for the second consecutive game. She broke the tie with a header that floated over the head of the other Rams’ goalie in the 81st minute. The Fordham defense did the rest, as they held Rhode Island to only eight shots all game and LaMorte got her sixth shutout of the season.

When the final whistle blew, the Rams made history for the second time in the same weekend. The team’s sixth straight win tied a school record set in 2014 and brought them to 4-0 in conference play. The Rams’ undefeated record so far in the A-10 is the first time in team history they have set this mark.

“The team is coming together at the right time. We were challenged with a difficult non-conference portion of the season and thus far, it prepared us for the start of the A-10 conference,” Clinton said. “There’s a healthy confidence to what they are doing and it’s great.”

The Rams will look to make more history tomorrow when they return home to play the UMass Minutewomen at 7 p.m. From there, they head upstate to challenge the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on Sunday at 1 p.m.