Five Rams Named to United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Teams

Full Listing of All-Midwest Region Teams
 
Kansas City, Mo. – (December 1, 2017) – On the day prior to Fordham's NCAA quarterfinal against North Carolina, five Rams were named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region teams, which are selected from players from the Atlantic 10 Conference, BIG TEN Conference, and the Colonial Athletic Association.  It is the most USC All-Region selections (previously the NSCAA) for Fordham.
 
Junior forward Janos Loebe (Kierspe, Germany) was named First Team All-Midwest Region for the first time in his career, after earning Second Team honors each of the last two years.  Junior goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu (Accra, Ghana) and senior defender Matthew Lewis (Kansas City, Mo.) were both named Second Team All-Midwest, while senior midfielder Jannik Loebe (Kierspe, Germany) and sophomore defender Joergen Oland (Drammen, Norway) garnered spots on the All-Midwest Region Third Team.
 
In all, a total of 13 Atlantic 10 players were honored with Fordham having the most with five.  Massachusetts, VCU, and Rhode Island each had two selections with George Washington and Dayton having one.

 
Janos is Fordham's first First Team All-Region player since 2011, when Ryan Meara and Nathaniel Bekoe were both named First Team All-Mid-Atlantic.  A First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, he currently leads the Rams in scoring with nine assists and 23 points to go with seven goals, and has remained among the national leaders in assists and game-winning goals (4) throughout the season.  He was also named Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week twice this season.
 
For Lewis and Nuhu, it is the third different organization to honor the duo this postseason, joining the Atlantic 10 and the ECAC.
 
Lewis, the 2017 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, has been the iron man on the Rams' backline, playing over 2,000 minutes this season for Fordham while missing only two minutes of action.  He has two goals on the year from his defender position and has set a new career-high with four assists. He has led the Rams to 11 team shutouts, which is tied for fifth in the NCAA, and has set the career records for games played and started at Fordham with 83.
 
Nuhu, who was also named Second Team All-Midwest Region last season, has played every second of the 2017 season in goal for the Rams, setting a new Fordham single season record for goalkeepers in minutes played at 2,050, while his 11 shutouts this season are the second-highest single season total, just one of the pace of Jeff Knuth in 1987.  He was named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week four times this season, and was recently named Player of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer after posting three saves in regulation and overtime and three more in a penalty kick shootout at Duke.  He has also risen up the career records list at Fordham among goalkeepers, ranking second in goals against average (0.90), third in minutes played (5,410), shutouts (24), and appearances (57).

 
For Jannik, he garners Third Team All-Midwest Region honors for the second straight season.  A First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, he is the Rams' leading goal scorer with eight and second in assists (4), and points (20).  He became only the second player in Atlantic 10 history to be named to the Atlantic 10 All-Championship Team four years in a row, and is Fordham's top scorer in the NCAA Championship with two goals and an assist in three games.  Loebe has also climbed on Fordham's all-time list in games played (2^nd – 81), games started (2^nd – 79), points (T6th – 61), goals (7^th – 24), and assists (13 – 11^th).
 
Oland earned All-Midwest Region honors for the first time in his career, after receiving Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors this season.  He has netted a career-high five goals from his defender position, which included one game-winning goal.  He has started all 21 games, he has appeared in playing almost 1,900 minutes and contributing to 11 team shutouts for the Rams