Bronx, N.Y. – Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better Senior Day for the Fordham women's soccer squad, as seniors
Nicole Bates,
Ally Doyle, and
Nicol Natale all scored in their final home game to lead the Rams to a 3-1 win over the Richmond Spiders at Jack Coffey Field on Sunday.
With the win, Fordham improved to 9-4-4 on the season, 4-1-3 in the Atlantic 10, while Richmond fell to 8-8-1 on the year, 3-5-0 in the conference.
All eight of Fordham's seniors, Bates, Doyle, Natale,
Brianna Blunck,
Rachel Myers,
Turner Block,
Sydney White, and
Megan Fitzgerald, earned the start in their final home game and quickly gave Fordham a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute.
Brooke Salmon played a short corner out to
Ally Doyle, who crossed the ball into the box. The cross found the head of
Nicole Bates for the deflection into the net for her third goal of the season.
Richmond knotted the game at one in the 19
th minute, when Brooke Beam fired in a cross from Lexi Prillaman into the goal from ten yards out for her third of the season.
The score remained tied until the early minutes of the second half. Fordham again found the right connection on a corner kick as Salmon played another short corner to Doyle. However, instead of getting the ball into the box like the previous goal, Doyle blistered a shot toward goal from 22 yards for her first career goal.
Brooke Salmon hugs Nicole Bates (27) and Ally Doyle (22) after Doyle put Fordham ahead 2-1.
Fordham then capped the scoring in the 84
th minute, as
Nicol Natale intercepted an errant pass to the Richmond backline and scored on a breakaway for her team-leading fourth goal of the season.
In net,
Megan Fitzgerald made three saves in the win, while Carlie Blessing had three stops for the Spiders.
The Fordham women's soccer team will next be in action on Thursday, October 27
th, when the Rams travel to North Carolina to face the Davidson Wildcats for a 7:00 PM start.
