The Fordham men’s soccer team’s fourth-straight-road-game consisted of a short drive down Kingsbridge Road in a cold, drizzling rain to face the Columbia in the Columbia Soccer Stadium on Thursday, September 15, and in the end, the Rams improved to 3-2 on the season with a 1-0 win over the Lions .

 

Columbia went on the offensive early on and had a scoring chance in the fifth minute as Kofi Agyapong took a run in the left side of the goalie box and unleashed a shot that Ryan Meara deflected to his right out of bounds for a corner kick.  Meara was up to the test early in the contest.

 

Fordham displayed some creativity in the 7^th minute as Andre Seidenthal was in the box and used a back heel to send the ball to John Niyonsaba who shot it high over the goal. The Rams missed a golden opportunity to get on the board early.

 

Fordham had another chance in the 12^th minute.  Aaron Markowitz was on the end line in the offensive zone and centered the ball into the penalty area where it was misplayed by the Columbia defender.  Matt Courtenay took a shot at the open net, but the ball went wide and the game remained scoreless.

 

Less than two minutes later, Tim Richardson blasted a shot that Alex Aurrichio dropped and then dove on to make the save.  The game remained scoreless into the quarter hour mark.

 

In the 23^rd minute, off a giveaway from Nathaniel Bekoe, David Najem got the ball to Nick Scott who blasted a shot past Meara that hit the post and caromed back into play.  Meara gathered in the second shot and the game remained level at 0-0.  Less than two minutes later, Fordham displayed some nifty passing, as John McHugh, Tim Richardson and Michael Stalker were all in the right side of the box and McHugh found Stalker who left the ball for Richardson whose shot was blocked and eventually cleared by the Lions’ defense.

 

In the 33^rd minute, the Rams counterattacked with numbers.  Richardson went for the net in the left side of the box, and Aurrichio came off his line as Richardson flipped it over him.  Luckily for Columbia, defender Jesse Vella got back to the goal line and headed it out of danger.  The defensive clearance kept the scoreless tie intact.

 

Columbia had another excellent scoring chance in the 40^th minute as Francois Anderson, who was at the top of the box, made a beautiful, short pass to Najem, who blasted the ball towards the upper half of the goal, but Meara was able to get a paw on it and knock it over the crossbar for a great save.  The superb goalkeeping helped keep the score level at 0-0, which was the score at the halftime break.

 

In the 50^th minute, Fordham was in transition and Richardson found halftime sub, Julian Nagel, who launched a long shot straight at Aurrichio, who made the clean catch for the save.  The game remained scoreless.

Just past the hour mark, Columbia had another chance to score.  Off a goal kick, Najem got the ball in the Fordham half and found Will Stamatis in the top of the box.  Stamatis blasted a shot that went wide of the goal and out of bounds.  In the 68^th minute, the Lions struck again.  The Rams were slow to clear and Henning Sauerbier took a shot from the top of the box, but it went wide and the game remained scoreless.

 

In the 75^th minute, the Lions missed a golden opportunity.  In transition, Stamitis and Najem took a run into the box and Najem went to Stamitis on the right side, who immediately flipped it back to Najem in the middle, but it went over his head and away.  Najem had an open net in front of him, but couldn’t get his head on the ball.

 

The Rams had their first opportunity of the half in the 83^rd minute.  A ball won in the midfield by Ryan Curran was advanced down the left side to Casper Gimand who let go a shot that went right to Aurrichio who made the save.

 

Less than two minutes later, Columbia missed two headers to try and take the lead.  First, Ifiok Akpandak took a shot that went just wide of the net, and a couple of minutes later, Brendan O’Hearn got his head on the ball in a nearly identical spot, which resulted in another wide shot.  The game remained scoreless through regulation and went into overtime.

 

With less than ten seconds left in the game, John McHugh took a corner for Fordham.  On the kick, McHugh, twisted it towards the goal and Aurrichio jumped up and grabbed it for the potential save.  However, the linesman ruled that Aurrichio came down over the line and McHugh got credit for the golden goal.  The victory improves the Rams to 3-2 and ends the two game losing streak for the Rams.