Dayton, Ohio – Fordham senior Jannik Loebe has proven over the course of his career to be one of the all-time clutch players in Fordham history, netting multiple game-winning goals in each of the three previous seasons and scoring goals at each of the last three Atlantic 10 Championships.  Loebe kept that “big-time player” tag on Saturday night, as he scored the game-winning marker in the 83^rd minute to give Fordham a 3-2 win over the Dayton Flyers in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championship at Baujan Field.

 

With the win, Fordham improved to 12-4-2 on the season, while Dayton fell to 9-8-2.

 

“What a game!” said Fordham head coach Jim McElderry, following the game.  “Credit to Dayton as they are a very good team and pushed us to the limit. I could not be more proud of this team. We did not play as well as we would have like at times, but fatigue from the week played a part. But the group fought the entire match, showed great mental strength and simply competed for 90 minutes. We will recover and look forward to next weekend.”

 

A wild scoring affair began in the 35^th minute, when Fordham tallied the first goal of the game.  Connor DeFillips and Bart Dziedzic played passes to each other up the right side, finishing with Dziedzic having possession in the box.  Dziedzic quickly turned and shot the ball far post, netting his second goal of the season.

 

Dayton almost replied with the equalizer in the 40^th minute, as Jonas Fjeldberg hit the post leaving the game as a 1-0 score after 45 minutes.

 

The Flyers would find the tying marker in the 65^th minute off the boot of Thor Helgason.  Rok Taneski worked his way to the endline, sending a cross back toward the penalty spot.  The ball deflected off Kyran McGhan-George right to Helgason for a sliding finish past Fordham goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu.

 

Ten minutes later, Fordham recaptured the lead at 2-1 in the 75^th minute.  Dayton cleared out a Fordham corner kick to Rams’ defender Vincenzo Zuccala, short of midfield.  Zuccala played a long ball right into the chest of Matthew Lewis, deflecting the ball to Joergen Oland.  Oland immediately fired the ball into the left side of goal for his career-high fourth goal of the season.

 

The Flyers responded with another rally to knot the game at two in the 78^th minute as the back-and-forth affair continued.  Ben Leba took the initial attempt, deflecting off a Fordham defender to Nick Hagenkord.  Hagenkord got the ball to James Haupt for a volley shot to the upper right side of goal for his fourth of the year.

 

Fordham, the defending Atlantic 10 champion, would not be denied the win however, coming up with the game-winning marker in the 83^rd minute.  Janos Loebe found his way down the left side, putting a perfect cross into the box for Jannik Loebe.  Jannik finished into the left side of goal from seven yards out for his sixth goal of the season.  It marked Jannik’s second game-winning goal of the season (ninth of his career), and the fourth consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship that he has scored a goal in.

 

In net, Nuhu made two saves to record his 12^th win of the season, while Federico Barrios has one save over the final 45 minutes of action for Dayton.

 

The Rams now await the winner of the Saint Louis-Massachusetts game (Sunday at 1:00 PM) in the first Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal on Friday, November 10^th, starting at 4:30 PM at Dayton’s Baujan Field.