Aug. 29, 2011

New Brunswick, N.J. - The Fordham women's soccer team wraps up its three-game Big East road trip on Monday night, when the Rams take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 7:00 PM at Yurcak Field in New Brunswick, N.J. Thus far against Big East opponents, Fordham has played a pair of double-overtime contests resulting in a 0-1-1 record.

LIVE COVERAGE: Links to live video and GameTracker.

SERIES HISTORY: Rutgers won the only previous meeting between the two schools in 2009, as the then-23rd ranked Scarlet Knights defeated Fordham, 3-0 at Yurcak Field.

LAST TIME OUT: Before dealing with the storm that was Hurricane Irene, the Fordham women's soccer team had to deal with the Red Storm of St. John's on Friday night at Belson Stadium. A hotly contested match-up, the game would result in a double-overtime scoreless draw between Fordham and St. John's with Fordham goalkeeper Rachel Suther recording her ninth career shutout. With the tie, Fordham is 0-1-1 on the year, while St. John's moves to 1-1-1.

Despite a 21-11 shot advantage by St. John's, two of the best scoring chances went to Fordham during the second half. In the 75th minute, sophomore Mary Solimine picked up a loose ball and dribbled in 25 yards from goal and sailed a shot to the top of the net. St. John's goalkeeper Kristin Russell was just able to get a fingertip on the ball, pushing it just over the crossbar to keep the game scoreless.

Later in the first ten-minute session of overtime, the Rams almost won the game in the first few minutes, when senior Katherine Wah drilled a shot from 20 yards away off the crossbar, keeping the game scoreless, which is how the game would end.

The Fordham defense, comprised of junior goalkeeper Rachel Suther, sophomores Kaitlyn Carballeira, Casey Nowakowski, and Solimine, and freshman Jessica Widmann continuously denied the St. John's attack.

Suther made four saves in net for Fordham, while the defense blocked three other chances, for the team's first shutout of the season. It was Suther's ninth career shutout, tying her for third all-time at Fordham with Kim Kasper (1996-99). Kristina Maksuti led the Rams' offense with four shots.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Seniors Michaela Murphy and Mariella Romano have been voted as the team captains by the coaches and players for the 2011 season.

EARLY IMPACT: Just two games into her Fordham career, freshman Kristina Maksuti has proven herself to be a player that opposing team's always have to keep an eye on. She leads the team with 11 shots and two goals, both of which came at Seton Hall. She is the first Fordham freshman to record a multi-goal game in her first career game.

Since 1999, Fordham has had six freshmen score in their first career goal in their first career game. The last was Katie Sanchez in 2005 against Iona. Other freshmen to score in their first game were Corey Dunfey, Lena Daragjati, and Katie Noon in 2002 against St. Peter's, and Beth Kitson and Erin Safarik in 1999 against St. John's.

ATLANTIC 10 PRESEASON RANKINGS (8/11): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced coaches' predictions and the preseason All-Conference teams for women's soccer this afternoon with Fordham selected to finish sixth in the 14-team league.

Dayton, Charlotte, and Richmond were picked as the top three teams in the league, followed by La Salle in fourth, St. Bonaventure in fifth, and Fordham is sixth. The rest of the league in descending order is Massachusetts (7th), Duquesne (8th), Saint Louis (9th), George Washington (10th), Rhode Island (11th), Saint Joseph's (12th), Xavier (13th), and Temple (14th).

PRESEASON ACCOLADES FOR FRESHMAN CANICATTI (8/11): In addition to the preseason rankings, the coaches also voted on the preseason All-Conference and All-Rookie teams with Fordham freshman Maria Lorena Canicatti listed among the top newcomers in the league.

Canicatti was a Regional ODP player and a National Pool player since 2007, and attended the National Team training camp in Pomona, California in 2007. Her talent has kept her on the ENY State ODP team since 2005 and her club team, the Syosset Sting, have been State Cup Champions every year since 2008. Along with fellow incoming freshman Jessica Widmann, Canicatti helped her club make it to the finals of the 2010 US Youth Soccer U-17 National Championships.

In 2009, Canicatti was invited to the adidas Elite Soccer Program in Pomona, California, and, in 2010, she was one of four players from New York asked to play for the Region 1 team at the US Youth Soccer ODP girls Thanksgiving Inter-regionals in Florida.