Over the past two weeks, the Fordham women’s soccer team concluded its 2022 regular season with three matches. The first match was at home for senior day as the Rams hosted Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) at Jack Coffey Field.

Fordham got off to a dream start against VCU in the 14th minute, when sophomore midfielder Abby Doyle put the ball into the back of the net via a header to give the hosts the lead. However, within 90 seconds, VCU equalized with Milica Bulatovic who flicked the ball past junior goalkeeper Maria O’Sullivan to make it 1-1.

Then in the 35th minute, VCU took the lead and scored two goals in the span of 1:32 to make it 3-1 for the visitors. In the second half, VCU increased their lead courtesy of Kanna Matsuhisa, making it 4-1. Fordham was able to grab a last minute consolation goal in the 90th minute courtesy of graduate student forward Caroline Monahan. Monahan took a free kick at the top corner of the box, which found its way into the net.

When the final whistle blew, VCU celebrated their 4-2 victory.

The Rams’ next match was their final home game of the season as they faced the Dayton Flyers. The visitors started off on the better foot. In the 11th minute, they took the lead courtesy of Itala Gemelli, who scored her 10th goal of the campaign to make it 1-0. Fordham did find an equalizer in the 41st minute courtesy of senior forward Caitlin Kennedy for her second goal of the season. After halftime, Fordham took a lead in the 51st minute with freshman forward Sidney Nicholas scoring her first career goal to put the Rams ahead.

Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last long. Three minutes later, Dayton equalized to make it 2-2. And in the 81st minute, the Flyers scored the go ahead goal off of a corner kick courtesy of Alicia Donley to take the lead in the dying minutes of the game. Once the full time whistle blew, Fordham fell to Dayton 3-2.

Three days after that, the Rams went on the road for their regular season finale against the University of Massachusetts. Heading into the final day, Fordham needed to win on the road and have other results go their way in order to qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship. Fordham tried their hardest to take the lead, but as the clock started to wind down it seemed that a draw was in the cards.

However, in the 88th minute, a Rams corner kick found its way onto the head of senior midfielder Maura Murphy, who knocked the ball into the back of the net to give Fordham the lead. When the final whistle blew, Fordham won 1-0. But with Loyola Chicago also winning their game, it meant that Loyola Chicago had the better record despite both the Rams and the Ramblers finishing on 13 points. Because of this, the Ramblers took the final seed for the championship, eliminating Fordham from the competition.

At the end of the season, the Rams’ overall record was 5-11-1 with a conference record of 4-5-1 and a ninth placed finish in the standings. This was an improvement from last year when the Rams went 4-12-2 overall and a 2-7-1 conference record which saw them finish second to last on seven points. With head coach Magnus Nilerud at the helm of the team, expect the Rams to come back even stronger next year.