Women’s Soccer Celebrates Senior Day on Sunday

Bronx, N.Y. – (October 12, 2019) – Following a pair of dramatic overtime victories last week, the Fordham women's soccer team looks for its third straight victory on Sunday, when the Rams host Rhode Island at Jack Coffey Field on Sunday afternoon for Senior Day.
 
Prior to the match, Fordham will honors its five seniors – Morgan Busacca, Kelly LaMorte, Juliana Mascelli, Amanda Miller, and Margaret Roughley.
 
Fordham (4-8-2, 3-2-0 A-10) looks to continue to move up the conference standings after wins over George Mason and VCU last week.  The team will look to do so against the Rhode Island Rams, who are 3-7-3 overall, 0-4-1 in the conference.  URI is winless in its last eight contests overall (0-6-2) and have scored only two goals in five Atlantic 10 games this season.
 
GAME COVERAGE:
Sunday – Rhode Island at Fordham – 1:00 PM ET – Live Video (ESPN+) | International Stream | Live Stats
 
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 21^st "Battle of the Rams" between Fordham and Rhode Island, with each team having nine wins and two draws to their credit.  Fordham has gotten the better of URI in recent year, going 7-0-1 in the last eight matches, including a 1-0 win at Rhode Island last year.  URI's last win came in 2009.
 
LAST TIME OUT: After Maura Holst used some Coffey Field magic to give Fordham an overtime home win on Thursday, Kristen Cocozza took that magic on the road, as she netted the overtime winner on Sunday in a 3-2 women's soccer win against VCU at SportsBackers Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
 
Fordham didn't wait long to crack the scoreboard, scoring four minutes into the contest.  Kristen Cocozza played a ball into the box from the right, which Morgan Busacca was able to lay off to Margaret Roughley near the top of the box.  Roughley then immediately shot the ball into the left side of the net for her second goal of the season.
 
The Maroon and White then caught a fortunate bounce on a corner kick in the 27^th minute.  Juliana Mascelli took the corner kick, which ended up slipping between a defender and the left post for a goal,  her first of the year.
 
Fordham took that 2-0 lead into the second half, where VCU scored twice in a seven and a half minute stretch to tie the game at two.  In the 62^nd minute, Susanna Friedrichs ripped a shot just under the crossbar for her fourth goal of the season.  Then in the 70^th minute, VCU got their fortunate bounce as a cross deflected into the net off Fordham defender Hope Baisley for an own goal.

 
The match remained knotted at two, forcing the game into overtime.  Just like Thursday, Fordham took little time to get the game-winner, scoring the deciding marker in the 92^nd minute.  Marissa Stanco fought her way through a pair of defenders at the right side of the box, crossing the ball to Cocozza on the left side.  VCU goalkeeper Brecht Haakma sold out immediately to the left thinking Cocozza would one-time the shot, but Cocozza ended up hitting the shot into the ground first and the ball bounced into the wide open net for her second goal of the year.
 
In net, Fordham's Kelly LaMorte posted six saves in the win, while Haakma had two stops for VCU. 

COCOZZA NAMED ATLANTIC 10 CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK (10/7): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its weekly women's soccer awards on Monday with Fordham freshman Kristen Cocozza (Coopersburg, Pa.) being named the conference's Co-Rookie of the Week.  She shares the honor with Dayton's Jessica Sheldon.
 
It is the first career weekly honor for Cocozza, who was instrumental in Fordham's 3-2 overtime win at VCU on Sunday afternoon.  First, she registered the secondary assist on the Rams' opening goal, just minutes into the contest.  Then after VCU tied the game to force overtime, Cocozza netted the game-winning goal in the 92^nd minute to give Fordham a 3-2 win.  It was Cocozza's second goal of the season, as well as her second game-winning goal of the season.
 
ETIENNE CALLED UP TO HAITI NATIONAL TEAM: After playing with the Haitian U20, U17, and U15 national teams at various international competitions, Fordham midfielder Danielle Etienne (Paterson, N.J./Paramus Catholic) was recently called up to the Haitian Women's National Team for the first time in her career.   Previously, Etienne played with the U20 Haitian Women's Team in the U20 World Cup last year in France, while also previously competing for the U17 Youth National Team and U15 Youth National Team.
 
Etienne, who has started 12 games with the Rams this season, took part in the Caribbean CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and helped Haiti win the Group C of the Caribbean Qualifiers.  
 
In games played at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in Puerto Rico, Haiti beat Suriname, 10-0, where Etienne assisted on two of the goals before coming off the pitch.  Then, Haiti played Puerto Rico and won by a 2-1 count.
 
Haiti now joins Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the final tournament for the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship.  In all, eight teams will compete in that Championship, with the top two teams qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Games.  

LAMORTE AMONG NATIONAL & ATLANTIC 10 LEADERS: The NCAA released its weekly statistics report and Fordham goalkeeper Kelly LaMorte finds herself among the national leaders in two categories.  She rates 11th in the country in total saves (78) and fourth in minutes played (1320).   Both marks are tops in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season as well.
 
WHO'S NEXT: After Sunday's game, Fordham is in action twice next week.  The Rams host Saint Louis on Thursday, October 17^th, while traveling to Saint Joseph's on Sunday, October 20^th.