Men’s Soccer Falls to URI in PK Shootout at A-10 Championship

Bronx, N.Y. – (November 15, 2019) – They say finishing a soccer match with penalty kicks is the "cruelest of fates" for whichever team comes out on the wrong side of the shootout.  That was certainly the case for the Fordham Rams on Friday afternoon at Jack Coffey Field.  After playing to a scoreless draw for 110 minutes, a gutsy performance by Fordham, which saw three players forced out with injuries, ended in the longest penalty kick shootout in Atlantic 10 Championship history, with Rhode Island coming away with a 7-6 decision over nine shooters.
 
Rhode Island (13-3-3) now advances to the Atlantic 10 Championship match on Sunday, while Fordham ends its season with a record of 7-10-3.
 
The match got started with a quick hit to the Rams, as senior Joergen Oland, the Atlantic 10's Defensive Player of the Year, was forced out of the game with an injury just minutes into the contest.  His replacement, Conrado Duhour, almost made an immediate impact to pick up his teammate, connecting on a header off a corner kick that just missed the left post in the 19^th minute.
 
The score stayed without a goal through the rest of the half with both Fordham goalkeeper Konstantin Weis and Rhode Island netminder Stefan Schmidt having two saves each.
 
In the second half, Fordham came close on a couple of chances to crack the scoreboard.  In the 51^st minute, Tomer Zloczower hit the crossbar, while in the 64^th minute, Sameer Fathazada looked to have been fouled in the box.  Despite the no call, Fathazada got the ball to Johannes Pieles for a shot, which just missed left.  Pieles was also injured on the play and was unable to return.
 
Weis and Schmidt added one more save to each of their totals in the half, but neither budged, forcing the game into overtime.  In the extra 20 minutes, Weis would come up with one more stop on Jacob Maddox in the 103^rd minute, but the match ended in a scoreless draw, which meant a penalty kick shootout would decide who would be playing on Sunday.  Fordham would be down another man in the shootout as late in the second overtime session, Andron Kagramanyan was forced out of the game with an injury.
 
The shootout began with Fordham going first with Filippo Ricupati, but he was denied by Schmidt, giving Rhode Island an early edge.  Rhode Island converted on their first two attempts, with Fordham answering with two of their own by Bart Dziedzic and Jacob Bohm.
 
Weis then evened the shootout as he stopped Peder Kristiansen.  Each team converted on the next three penalties, with Fordham's coming from Fathazada, Jack Sluys, and Luke McNamara.
 
Kristian Shkreli was Fordham's seventh shooter but was stopped by Schmidt, giving Rhode Island a chance to end the shootout.  Weis had other ideas as he stopped his counterpart Schmidt to keep the shootout going.  Tomer Zloczower converted for Fordham, followed by a Rhode Island make.
 
Schmidt then came up with his third save of the shootout on Jack Murphy, once again giving Rhode Island a chance at the win.  Simon Trcka would end the shootout getting the ball past Weis for a 7-6 final.