Men’s Soccer Blanks Manhattan, 3-0, in the Battle of the Bronx

Bronx, N.Y. – Behind three first half goals, including two by Jannik Loebe,  the Fordham men's soccer team powered past the Manhattan Jaspers on Wednesday night in the annual Battle of the Bronx by a score of 3-0 at Jack Coffey Field.
 
With the win, Fordham improved to 5-2-1 on the year and extended its current win streak to four games, while Manhattan fell to 3-4.
 
Fordham wasted little time getting on the board in the 16^th minute.  Owen Lawrence took a long throw from Fordham's side of the field, finding Janos Loebe about 45 yards from goal. Loebe then turned the Manhattan defender inside out, getting around him and sending a ball over the Manhattan backline to Jannik Loebe.  Jannik then directed the ball past the goalkeeper inside the right post from ten yards out for his second goal of the season.
 
The Rams made it 2-0 just over ten minutes later on a set piece.  After a Manhattan foul,

Janos took the free kick from the left side, three yards from the corner of the box.  He put in a perfect cross to Joergen Oland for a header that just grazed the crossbar and went in for his second goal of the year.
 
Fordham then put the game out of reach with a third first half goal in the 31^st minute.  Janos backheeled a ball from the near sideline to Jacob Bohm.  Bohm went on a run into the box and taken down by a Manhattan defender, awarding a penalty kick to the Rams.  Jannik stepped to the penalty spot, and drilled home his second goal of the game for his fourth career multi-goal game.
 
With the two tallies, Jannik moved into the top ten all-time goal scorers at Fordham, as he is tied for ninth with Colin Curran (1987-88) and Rory McEldowney (1990-93) at 19 career goals.  He also moved past Curran in career points for tenth on that list with 48.
 
The three goals for Fordham were more than enough offense.  The Rams' defense, led by Matthew Lewis, who started his 69^th career game on Wednesday, moving him into a tie for tenth on that Fordham career list with Todd Vieira (1995-98), limited the Jaspers to just six shots in the game.  Rashid Nuhu made two saves for his fifth shutout of the season and 18^th of his career.
 
The Fordham men's soccer team will next be in action on Saturday, September 23^rd, when the Rams host Bryant for a 1:00 PM start on Jack Coffey Field for Alumni Day.