Oct. 7, 2011

Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham women's soccer team continues Atlantic 10 conference play on Friday, when the Rams host the Xavier Musketeers at Jack Coffey Field. Fordham is coming off a 1-0 win over Temple on Sunday, while Xavier's last game was a 2-2 overtime tie with Butler on September 29th.

LIVE COVERAGE: Links to Live Video and GameTracker.

SERIES HISTORY: The all-time series between Fordham and Xavier is tied up at 6-6-2 in 14 all-time meetings. The Rams however have won each of the last five meetings.

LAST TIME OUT: Behind another defensive effort and a second half goal by Kristina Maksuti, the Fordham women's soccer team topped the Temple Owls, 1-0, for the team's first conference win of the season at Jack Coffey Field on Sunday.

After a scoreless first half, Temple had an early scoring opportunity in the 48th minute on Fordham goalkeeper Rachel Suther. A long pass by Temple's Amanda Ward was picked up by Casey Greco, who went in one-on-one with Suther on the right side. Suther came out to challenge and was able to swallow up Greco's shot to keep the game scoreless.

Fordham then notched what was the lone goal of the game in the 58th minute. Jessica Widmann carried the ball down the left side and put in a cross to Kristina Maksuti in the box. From eight yards out, Maksuti turned and fired toward the right post. The ball hit the inside of the post and just trickled over the line for Maksuti's eighth goal of the season.

The Rams would hold onto that one-goal lead, as Suther came up with two more stops in the half, while the Fordham defensive group of Casey Nowakowski, Kaitlyn Carballeira, Mary Solimine, and Widmann held the Owls to a total of four shots in the game, all in the second half. For Suther, it was her third shutout of the season and 11th of her career, and the third straight clean sheet for the Rams.

MULTI-GOAL GAMES: For the first time in 2009, the Rams have multiple players that have scored at least two goals in a game this season. Freshman Kristina Makusti pulled the feat in the first game of the season against Seton Hall, while junior Annie Worden turned the trick against Stony Brook. Mariella Romano joined the fray, netting two goals against Utah Valley.

Worden was also a part of the last time this happened in 2009, joining Michelle Ancelj and Leah Loguidice with multi-goal games.

MAKSUTI RANKED AMONG A-10 BEST BY TOPDRAWERSOCCER.COM: TopDrawerSoccer.com's latest player rankings among the conferences were released on Monday with Fordham freshman Kristina Maksuti rated as one of the league's top players. Every Monday, TopDrawerSoccer ranks the top 20 players in each conference.

Maksuti has led the Rams in scoring from the first game of the season, netting eight goals and three assists in 10 games. She also has one multi-goal game and four game-winning goals to her credit.

Maksuti's 19 points are already just four shy of the freshman scoring record at Fordham, which is 23, held by Sarah Hopkins, back in 2003.

On the national scene, she ranked 30th in the NCAA in points per game (1.90 ppg), 25th in goals per game (0.8 gpg), and 12th in game-winning goals (4).