The Fordham women’s soccer team wrapped up head coach Magnus Nilerud’s first season by falling just short of qualifying for the Atlantic 10 Championship. A year in which they went 5-11-1 overall, but 4-5-1 in conference play, for a total of 13 conference points, put them in a tie for eighth place with Loyola University Chicago. Loyola, unfortunately, held the tiebreaker over the Rams, leaving them on the outside of the standings and without a shot for a Cinderella run at the Atlantic 10 Championship.
Heading into Nilerud’s second season in charge, Fordham will be without its top-two leading goalscorers from the previous year after the departures of both Kristen Cocozza and Natalie Velde. These aren’t the only critical players Fordham will be without this coming season, as the Rams’ 2021 leading scorer Caitlin Kennedy, who also appeared in every game last year, has moved on from the program.
Although the Rams will be without some impactful names from the past couple of seasons, they also have many returning players. Headlining the returning players are the 2023 captains, who are junior midfielder Abby Doyle and seniors Olivia Redden and Cambrie Arboreen. Doyle, going into her second year for the Rams after transferring before last season, was one of three players to start every game in 2022, also leading the team in minutes played for the entire year. The other returning player to start every game last season was fellow junior midfielder Tristan McFarlane, who also finished second on the team in minutes played. Arboreen headlines the women’s attacking front as the forward position leader as they try to replace last year’s offensive production from Cocozza and Velde. Helping out on that front will be junior Ryann Lucas, who was the team leader in assists with four, second on the team in points with six and was one of two returning players who were able to notch five or more points on the season.
The other returning player to accumulate five or more points last season was Caroline Monahan, a graduate transfer student entering her second year for the Rams who had five points off two goals and one assist.
The 2023 campaign began on August 17 with a road loss against Drexel University. They followed that up with a home-opener victory over Wagner College by a score of 4-0. Four consecutive home matchups will follow before traveling north to face the University of Albany in early Sept. A-10 play will start the following week on Sept. 14, with a home contest against George Mason University.
That will start a stretch of 10 straight conference matchups to finish the season before the A-10s start in late Oct.
These 10 conference matchups will be crucial in determining where the Rams will end up in the A-10 standings and if they will clinch their first tournament berth under Nilerud.
