By Leighton Schneider
The Fordham Women’s Soccer team controlled its own destiny going into the final week of the season. They needed to win one game to guarantee themselves a spot in the Atlantic-10 Championship at Davidson University this upcoming week. On Thursday night, the Rams clinched their first A-10 Championship berth since 2009 when they beat the Davidson Wildcats 2-0. They followed that performance up with a 1-1 tie against the George Mason Patriots on Senior Day on Sunday.
Fordham was strong in all facets of the game against the Wildcats, limiting them to only one shot on goal while scoring two goals themselves. With the shutout, the Rams set the team single season shutout record with 10 and Megan Fitzgerald tied the single-season goalkeeper shutout record with eight.
Head coach Jessica Clinton told The Fordham Ram the team’s defense puts the offense in a position to succeed and that could lead to a championship.
“Defense wins championships,” said Clinton. “Their job is to keep the ball out of the back of the net and as long as we can do that, our offense is put into a great position to lead us in that direction.”
Red-shirt senior forward Kristina Maksuti opened the scoring in the 34th minute on a long strike from 25 yards out. Maksuti got the ball from graduate student midfielder Jessica Widmann, and then brought the ball around her body as a defender was closing in and took one dribble before unleashing a shot that went just under the crossbar. It was her seventh goal of the year.
Freshman forward Caitlin Leen made it 2-0 just seconds before the first half ended. Junior defender Brianna Blunck took a corner kick from the right side of the field and sent a beautiful ball into the middle of the six-yard box. Davidson goalkeeper Alex Carpenter lost control of the ball and after several failed clearances by the Wildcats, Leen put the ball into the net for her first career goal.
Clinton knows that having scoring depth will be key if the team wants to make a deep run in the A-10s.
“Heading into the A-10s, we know Widmann is marked,” said coach Clinton. “We know Davidson was trying to take care of her today, so we are going to need other players to score. If we do it by committee that’s the best part.”
With a spot in the A-10 Championship already guaranteed, Sunday’s game against George Mason was for seeding. The Rams knew they could get as high as third with a win and a Virginia Commonwealth loss or tie, or as low as fifth with a loss or tie and a St. Joseph’s win.
For the third straight game, a Fordham player scored her first career goal. This time it was Blunck, who was moved up to midfield in a tactical switch. Blunck scored with just 25 seconds remaining in the game to tie George Mason at one.
“It was a heart-stopper,” said Clinton. “It gave us a heart attack on the sideline, but we’ll take it.”
After a scoreless first half that saw Fordham dominate the possession, the Patriots scored in the opening 30 seconds of the second half.
George Mason had a throw-in on the left side of the field. The ball went to the feet of Alex Myers who then shot it just inside the right post of the goal.
Despite a furious charge in the second half in hopes of tying the game up, Fordham could not find the equalizer until the final moments of the game. The play started with Widmann having the ball with her back to the net. She kicked the ball over her shoulder into the box where Blunck, who was wide open, shot it into the right side of the net.
The game went into overtime, but neither team could find the back of the net.
Fordham will be the fifth seed in the A-10 Championship, which starts on Thursday in North Carolina. They will face off against VCU at 1:30, who is the fourth seed. If Fordham wins, it will face the winner of George Washington, the one seed, and George Mason, the eight seed.
The Rams finished off the season with a 12-6-1 overall record and a 6-3-1 record in the Atlantic 10. This will be the team’s seventh trip to the championship.
