Pittsburgh, Pa. – (October 10, 2018) – After falling in their last contest in overtime, the Fordham men's soccer team looked for a bounce back game on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh against the Duquesne Dukes. With a late save by
Rashid Nuhu and an overtime goal by
Joergen Oland, the Rams got the result they were looking for in a 2-1 win over the Dukes at Rooney Field.
With the win, Fordham improved to 6-2-3 on the year, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10, while Duquesne fell to 2-7-2 overall, 0-2-1 in the league.
Fordham got off to a great start, scoring just 3:14 into the match. After a foul call on Duquesne, the Rams set up for a free kick about 28 yards from goal.
Janos Loebe touched the ball forward just a foot to
Sameer Fathazada, who stopped the ball for a Loebe bullet shot into the right side of the goal for his fourth goal of the season.
The score stayed at 1-0 until the 60
th minute, when Duquesne got the equalizer. With the ball in the Fordham box, Fordham's
Joergen Oland and Duquesne's Manel Busquets battled for control with both going to the ground. The referee called Oland for the foul, awarding a penalty kick to Duquesne. Busquets then took the penalty kick, shooting to the bottom left corner. Fordham goalkeeper
Rashid Nuhu got a hand on the ball, but the ball had enough momentum to get over the line for Busquets' fourth goal of the year.
Janos Loebe had a goal & an assist on Wednesday.
The Dukes then almost won the game in the final seconds, as the ball bounced in the box to Busquets and angled a shot to the left side of goal, but Nuhu was able to grab the ball this time, forcing the game into overtime.
In the 95
th minute, the Rams rewarded Nuhu's late save with the game-winning goal. After a failed clearance attempt, Loebe lobbed a cross into the box from the right side.
Johannes Pieles headed the ball down in the six-yard box, which Oland was able to knock in the net for his team-leading fifth goal of the year.
Loebe and Pieles both earned assists on the play, which gave Loebe 10 on the year. He joins Ifeatu Oute (1972), Lenord Kelly (1973), Keith Loeffler (1985), and John Wolyniec (1996 & 1998) as the fifth Ram to reach double-digit assists in a single season.
In net, Nuhu finished with five saves in the win, while Duquesne's Robbie McKelvey had two stops.
The Fordham men's soccer team will next be in action on Saturday, October 13
th, when the Rams host Massachusetts for a 7:00 PM at Jack Coffey Field.
