Men’s Soccer Wraps Up Regular Season With Pair of Home Matches

Bronx, N.Y. – Following its second straight overtime win, the Fordham men's soccer team is still in the hunt for the Atlantic 10 regular season title, as the squad hosts a pair of home matches this week to end the regular season.  The Rams are in action on Wednesday afternoon against the Massachusetts Minutemen in a make-up game from October 9^th, while taking on St. Bonaventure on Saturday night for Senior Day.
 
Fordham (7-5-3, 4-1-1 A10), which has already clinched a spot in next week's Atlantic 10 Championship, sits in a tie for second in the conference standings with VCU.  With a pair of wins this week, coupled with a Saint Louis loss or tie at George Washington, the Rams would clinch the regular season title.
 
The Rams will have their hands full in their final two matches, as both Massachusetts and St. Bonaventure are vying for spots and seeding in next week's championship as well.  The Minutemen (6-7-3, 3-1-2 A10) make their second trek to Rose Hill this season, as the first one was postponed due to rain.  UMass has won each of the last two games and are led by Ty Goncalves, who has a team-high three goals and nine points this season.  The Bonnies (4-11-2, 3-3-1 A10) have had a rough last two games, falling to Saint Louis, 5-0, and NJIT, 4-1.  St. Bonaventure is led offensively by Kieran Toland who has a team-high four goals and eight points this season.
 
GAME COVERAGE:
Wednesday – Massachusetts at Fordham - Live Stats | Live Video | Follow on Twitter @FordhamSoccer
 
Saturday – St. Bonaventure at Fordham - Live Stats | Live Video | Follow on Twitter @FordhamSoccer
 
SERIES HISTORY: Between Fordham and Massachusetts, this is the 21^st meeting since 1995, with the Minutemen having a 13-7-0 record versus the Rams.  The two met twice last season with UMass winning the regular season finale in Amherst, 1-0, while Fordham won 1-0 in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Championship, just five days later in Fairfax, Virginia.  For the Saturday match-up, this is the 18^th all-time meeting between the Rams and Bonnies with the Rams holding down a 9-6-2 edge in the series.  The teams have not met since 2012, when Fordham posted a 2-0 victory at St. Bonaventure.
 
LOEBE NAMED ATLANTIC 10 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (10/31): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its weekly men's soccer awards on Monday with sophomore Janos Loebe being named Offensive Player of the Week.  It is Loebe's second weekly award this season.
 
Loebe netted the game-winning goal on Saturday night with 58 seconds left in the second overtime period to give Fordham the 2-1 victory at Saint Louis.  The loss was the first at home for Saint Louis in Atlantic 10 action, while the win clinched an Atlantic 10 Championship berth for the Rams.  The goal was Loebe's team-leading sixth of the season.

 
LAST TIME OUT (10/29): Trailing 1-0 and under ten minutes in regulation, the Fordham men's soccer team let everything loose on the Saint Louis Billikens.  The Rams got the game-tying goal with six minutes left, and then with 58 seconds remaining in the second overtime period, Janos Loebe scored the game-winner to give Fordham a 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Billikens at Hermann Stadium on Saturday night.
  
After a scoreless first half, Saint Louis struck first, when Joe Saad connected on his fourth goal of the season on a shot from the top left corner of the box in the 63^rd minute.
Fordham tied the score in the 85^th minute with some heavy pressure.  The ball was played into the box, where Dantae Greer popped the ball up in the air on a header.  Cole Stevenson then headed the ball toward goal, which went off the crossbar and down over the goal line for his third goal of the season.
 
The Rams controlled most of the action from there, getting the game winning goal in the final minute of the second overtime period.  Stevenson took a corner kick from left of goal, which was punched out to the top of the box.  Janos Loebe picked up the loose ball and blistered a shot into the lower right corner of goal for his team-leading sixth marker of the season and the 2-1 win.
 
In net, Rashid Nuhu made two saves for the Rams in the win, while Ben Yeager had three stops for the Billikens. 

WHO'S NEXT: The Rams will have to wait and see how this week's games play out to determine their next opponent, but they will certainly be playing on Thursday, November 10^th, in one of the four Atlantic 10 quarterfinals to be held at Davidson's Alumni Soccer Stadium in North Carolina.