Something had to give Friday night in the Bronx when Manhattan (who had two goals entering the game) and Fordham (who tallied just five markers) took to the pitch at Gaelic Park in Riverdale, and in the end, the Rams found the back of the net twice, winning 2-0 and evening their record at 4-4-1.  The Jaspers fell to 0-8.

Fordham came on with an offensive mindset early in the game as Julian Nagel, Phil Ferrantello and Tim Richardson all had shots in the first 25 minutes of play.  The Rams got on the board in the 28^th minute when John Niyonsaba stole the ball from a Manhattan player and beat Jaspers’ goalie George Ellis from 15 yards out to give the Rams a 1-0 advantage.  The goal was Niyonsaba’s first marker of the season.

Nagel and Ralph Jerome each had shots that sailed high over the net in the 30^th and 35^th minutes, respectively.  In the 41^st minute of action, Matt Courtenay nearly made nearly the score 2-0, as his shot was lofted high and struck the crossbar before deflecting away to safety.  Courtenay forced Ellis to make another save on a shot in the 44^th minute, and Fordham took a 1-0 edge in halftime.

The second half saw the Rams make adjustments as Coach McElderry went to his bench frequently to find the right combination to score.  He subbed a lone Rams’ forward in 50^th minute, another three players together in the 64^th minute, and a lone player each in the 70^th and 80^th minutes.  The experiment culminated in the game’s second goal when Jack Bouchard, who was one of the 64^th minute additions, found Tim Richardson, whose header from the left side went into the right side of the net.  The goal came in the 84^th minute and gave the Rams an insurmountable 2-0 lead.

The game ended with that same score and in the contest, the Rams outshot the Jaspers 21-10.  Nagel led the Fordham side by attempting six of them.  Ryan Meara made five saves in the victory to record his 26^th career clean-sheet.  He is one shutout shy of tying Fordham’s all-time record, which is held by Jeff Knuth.

Fordham returns to action on Friday, October seventh, when the team travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to open up Atlantic 10 play with Xavier.  The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 P.M.

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