After a rough start to the season, the Fordham women’s soccer team played their home opener last Thursday against Hofstra University at Jack Coffey Field to celebrate Youth Night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the home welcome that the team was looking for, as they fell to Hofstra 1-0. The lone goal came after junior defender Olivia Redden fouled Leah Iglesias inside the penalty box in the 19th minute of the first half. The Pride’s defense player Anja Suttner then converted the following penalty and dispatched it into the bottom right corner of the net to give the visitors the lead.
Following the goal, the Rams were hunting for an equalizer and were close to finding it in the first half.

In the 40th minute, Fordham had a free kick with senior forward Caitlin Kennedy bending a shot around the wall to the left post, but Hofstra goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich was able to make a diving save to keep the visitors’ lead. After halftime, Hofstra almost doubled their lead from a corner that went over the head of the Rams’ freshman goalkeeper Kyla King. However, Redden was able to clear the corner to keep it a 1-0 scoreline. Fordham had more chances in the second half but were unable to convert any of them. After 90 minutes of play, Hofstra won with a scoreline of 1-0. Kuzmich had five saves in her shutout and King had four saves.

The following Sunday, Fordham traveled to New Haven, Conn., to face Yale University. For most of the first half, the game remained scoreless. However, in the 40th minute, Yale had an excellent through ball made by Ashley Kirschner, who slotted the ball past junior goalkeeper Maria O’Sullivan.

In the second half, Fordham was determined to find an equalizer and were on the attack from the kickoff, totalling 11 shots to the Bulldogs’ goalkeeper Maya Bellomo to no avail. There were two excellent chances for Fordham in the 51st and 77th minute but both were saved by Bellomo. In the 80th minute, there was an hour delay due to lightning. However, once the game resumed, another 20-minute pause was needed due to the lights in the stadium going out. After the prolonged match, which ended up taking three hours, Yale hung on to the lead and won the match due to the lone goal by Kirschner.

After these results, Fordham’s record is now 1-4. The Rams have two more upcoming games this week. The first one has them traveling to Hamden, Conn. to face Quinnipiac University on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 2:30 p.m. After that, they return to New York City but are still on the road as they travel to face Columbia University on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 3 p.m. The Columbia game can be seen on ESPN+.