The Fordham Rams put together another incredible defensive effort against one of the top offensive teams in the league, the Saint Louis Billikens, on Friday night in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals, held at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
However unlike last night, the sixth-seeded Rams got some offensive help getting goals from junior
Ryan Cupolo and freshman
Jannik Loebe to post a 2-1 upset win over the second-seeded Billikens to clinch a berth in Sunday's Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship final.
The win sends Fordham to the Championship match, where it will face Rhode Island which knocked off George Mason in double overtime 2-1 in Friday's other semifinal. That game will be played at 1:00 PM on Sunday and can be seen on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network on Atlantic10.com.
"It was another special effort from this group," said head coach
Jim McElderry after the match. "Saint Louis has future professional players and a great staff, and for us to score two good goals against them is impressive."
Fordham cracked the scoreboard in the 28
th minute when the Rams got a corner kick and Alexandar Mastilovic played a ball into the box which
Ryan Cupolo collected and scored to give Fordham a 1-0 advantage. It was Cupolo's first goal of the season.
The Rams doubled their advantage when Mastilovic connected on a pass to
Jannik Loebe who beat SLU keeper Sascha Otte to the lower left corner to make it 2-0 Fordham in the 77
th minute. For Loebe, it was his third goal of the season, while for Mastilovic, it was his sixth assist of the year.
Saint Louis battled back and got on the board in the 81
st minute when David Graydon used a left footed curl kick from just outside the box to beat
Sean Brailey to the upper right corner and make it 2-1.
SLU continued to pressure the Rams' defense and as time expired, Kingsley Bryce got off a shot from just outside the box, but Brailey made a great save, punching the ball over the goal post and preserving the win.
Brailey made four stops for Fordham, while Otte turned away a pair of shots. Saint Louis held a 25-8 edge in shots and a 13-2 edge in corner kicks, but it is the Rams moving onto the final.
"Sean was excellent again. Jannik took a great ball from Aleks and scored a nice goal. Our back four as come together at the right time," said McElderry. "We have developed into a tough team to play. We know Sunday will be tough, but I know we will compete for 90 minutes."
This will be Fordham's second appearance in the Atlantic 10 final. The Rams won the title in 1996, where they defeated Rhode Island, 2-1, to clinch the title.
