By Leighton Schneider
The Fordham Women’s Soccer team split their matches against Columbia and Hofstra this past weekend, to move to 6-3-0 on the year. On Friday night, the Rams traveled to Columbia and came back with a 1-0 win. On Sunday, the team traveled out to Long Island and dropped a 3-1 decision. Graduate student midfielder Jessica Widmann continued her hot streak to start the season scoring both of the goals in the games.
In a game that featured 19 shots, but only four that went on goal between the two teams, Fordham had the lone shot that found the back of the net. That goal came in the 68th minute from Widmann with an assist from redshirt senior forward Kristina Maksuti.
The goal was set up by a give and go between the two. Widmann got the ball following a pass from junior forward Nicole Natale. Widmann then took a touch before passing it off to Maksuti, who immediately gave it back to Widmann. She then got around a Columbia defender and shot the ball over the goalkeeper into the right side of the net.
Women’s head coach Jessica Clinton is impressed with Widmann’s start and the expectation is that she is one of the best on the field.
“Versus Columbia [my staff and I] thought that she ran the show when it came to the game,” said Clinton. “She controlled the midfield against them and they couldn’t stop her.”
Columbia was almost able to tie the game up in the 81st minute, but junior goalkeeper Megan Fitzgerald made a diving stop near the right post.
“I think [Megan] was terrific,” said Clinton. “She came up huge with that save. That’s a next level save and Megan allowed us to win that game.”
Fitzgerald earned her fifth win on the year, to go along with her third shutout.
On Sunday, the Rams lost 3-1 to Hofstra.
The team fell behind quickly as the Pride scored a goal in the fifth minute. Hofstra junior midfielder Jill Mulholland scored her fourth goal of the year with the assist from senior forward Leah Galton.
Hofstra made it 2-0 in the 24th minute on a goal that was credited to Emily Agudelo after Fitzgerald misplayed a shot on goal from Agudelo.
In the 47th minute, Hofstra made it 3-0 after a free kick after it deflected off a Fordham defender’s head and into the goal for an own goal.
The Rams finally netted one home in the 80th minute. Junior defender Rachel Myers passed the ball to the middle of the box, where Widmann was able to finish for her seventh goal of the season. Widmann is tied for 18th in the NCAA for goals on the season.
Fitzgerald finished with five saves in net.
The Rams finished out their out-of-conference schedule with six wins for the second consecutive year.
Even with the loss Coach Clinton believes the team will be ready when their A-10 schedule starts up.
“Hofstra has a similar style or is similar team to what we could see in maybe the top half of the A-10,” said Clinton. “It preps us even further taking the loss. They were able to expose some things that we’re working on getting better. I was happy with the response in the second half and I think the girls were able to see a glimpse that they can be successful in the A-10. We just need to play a complete game.”
The Rams open up their A-10 schedule on Thursday, Oct. 1st against the University of Rhode Island at 7:00 P.M.
