Box Score Nov. 12, 2011
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St. Louis, Mo. -
The Fordham men's soccer team saw its 2011 season come to a close in the semifinal round of the Atlantic 10 Championship with a 2-0 loss to Xavier in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday. The Rams, the #1 seed at the Championship, had earned a first-round bye after winning a share of the regular season A-10 title. Xavier, seeded sixth, knocked Fordham out of the playoffs for the second consecutive year and avenged a loss to the Rams earlier this season.
Just a season ago, Fordham and Xavier met in the season finale to determine the final playoff spot, and the Musketeers ended the Rams' season with a 2-1 win. This year saw Fordham upset #23 Xavier, 1-0, during the regular season but they weren't as fortunate the second time.
The Rams didn't press the action early on as they were content to possess the ball and even played it backwards to Ryan Meara several times. They began to push the ball forward about 15 minutes into the contest but didn't get a decent scoring chance until late in the half.
In the 44th minute, Aaron Markowitz drove up the left side of the 18-yard box and skipped the ball across to the right, but no one was there to take the pass. The game went into halftime scoreless, with Fordham outshooting the Musketeers, 7-3, and taking three corner kicks to none by Xavier.
Fordham came out pressing more in the second half and they were nearly rewarded in the 51st minute. John McHugh got free and blasted a shot at goal that Xavier goalkeeper Justin Marshall gathered in for the save.
<>Eight minutes later, the Musketeers struck.After a Fordham foul gave Xavier a free kick, James Queree took the feed from Gino DePaoli directly in front of the net and beat Ryan Meara for the game's first goal.
The Musketeers doubled the lead in the 77th minute as Nick Hagglund benefited from another DePaoli assist, this one from further out, to give Xavier a 2-0 edge.
Meara came up big in the 78th minute as he made consecutive saves on a pair of blasts that kept the score at 2-0. Tim Richardson had a shot on goal in the 86th minute, but it was parried by Marshall, and Xavier pulled off the upset.
In the game, the Rams outshot the Musketeers, 16-14 and took seven corner kicks to Xavier's two. Richardson had a pair of shots on goal and Nathaniel Bekoe took three shots.
