Amherst, Mass. – Behind a pair of second half goals and eight saves from Fordham goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu, the Fordham men’s soccer team upset #25 UMass, 3-2, in the Atlantic 10 regular season finale at Rudd Field in Amherst, Massachusetts.

 

With the win, Fordham finishes the regular season at 11-4-2 overall, 5-2-1 in the Atlantic 10, while UMass moved to 12-3-3 on the year, 6-1-1 in the league. The win for Fordham was its first over a ranked opponent since 2015, when the Rams topped then-#21 Columbia.  The game was also UMass’ first loss at home all season.

 

The offensive explosion in this contest started right away in the ninth minute, as the Minutemen took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Alex DeSantis, his sixth of the season off a corner kick.

 

Fordham quickly answered with a goal in the 14^th minute to knot the game at one.  Janos Loebe put on a dribbling exhibition to the left side of the box, and pulled off a shot across his body, that beat the goalkeeper to the right side of the net from 20 yards.  It was Loebe’s team-leading seventh goal of the season.

 

The score remained tied at one until the 55^th minute, when Fordham took a 2-1 lead.  Jannik Loebe took a corner kick from the left side, which found Owen Lawrence in the box.  Lawrence headed the ball toward the front of the net, where Joergen Oland headed the ball over the goalkeeper for his third goal of the season.

 

UMass then went on the attack in the 63^rd minute, as DeSantis and Mike Rita both came up firing, but each was denied by diving stops from Fordham goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu.

 

The Rams then picked up a two-goal lead at 3-1 in the 69^th minute on another set piece.  Janos Loebe laid a corner kick near the six-yard box, which Christopher Bazzini hammered a header into the right side of the net for his third marker of the year.

 

The Minutemen were not finished, closing within one at 3-2 with under 18 minutes left. Jack Fulton scored on a free kick into the upper right corner of the net from 25 yards out for his third of the year.

 

Both teams had chances to add more goals to the score, but the team defenses and goalkeepers kept the score at 3-2 for the final margin.

 

In net, Nuhu finished with a season-high eight saves, while UMass’ Bardia Asefnia had three.

 

The Fordham men’s soccer team now awaits the rest of the league schedule to wrap up on Wednesday night in order to find out their seed for the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championship, as well as where its conference quarterfinal will be played.  Fordham can still host an opening round quarterfinal game if Dayton ties or loses to George Mason this evening.