Making their first appearance in three years at the Atlantic 10 Championship, the Fordham men's soccer team drew a very tough opponent in the host school, VCU, in the A-10 quarterfinals on Thursday night at Sports Backer Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
The sixth-seeded Rams battled third-seeded VCU to a scoreless draw, pushing the game into penalty kicks. Fordham then topped VCU, 5-3, in penalty kicks to advance to the Atlantic 10 semifinals.
It is the first time since winning the conference title in 1996 that Fordham has advanced past their opening round game. In 2011, Fordham received an opening round bye to reach the Atlantic 10 semifinals.
"I could not be prouder of this group. VCU is a talented team and we had to battle to keep them off the scoresheet," said head coach
Jim McElderry after the game.
Fordham goalkeeper
Sean Brailey tied his career-high with nine saves during the first 110 minutes of play and then made the all-important stop in penalty kicks to send Fordham to the semis.
VCU's best chance to score came with 1:30 left in the second extra period when Devon Fischer was able to get off a point blank shot that was turned away by Brailey.
In penalty kicks, Fordham connected on its first three attempts with conversions by
Andres Penfold,
Aleksandar Mastilovic, and
Ollie Kelly. VCU made its first two before Brailey saved the third attempt by Mario Herrera Meraz.
After the teams exchanged goals to make it 4-3 in favor of Fordham,
Ryan Cupolo put the match on ice, converting Fordham's fifth consecutive chance in PK's.
VCU outshot Fordham 25-10, including a 6-1 edge during the two overtime periods.
"
Sean Brailey was fantastic for us tonight," said McElderry. "And for us to score on all five penalties shows the mental toughness we have. I'm very happy for the boys to be rewarded for their efforts."
Fordham (6-8-4) advances to take on second-seeded Saint Louis in the semifinals on Friday, November 14th, at 7:30 p.m. VCU caps its season with a 7-8-5 record.
