Bronx, N.Y. – (August 28, 2024) – Off to the team's best start since 2010, the Fordham women's soccer team begins a five-match road swing this week. The Rams head to Staten Island on Thursday for a nightcap match at Wagner, while Sunday will be a trip to Fairfield for a 6:00 PM start.
The Rams (3-0) posted wins over Drexel and UAlbany last week and have seven goals through the first three games, the most since 2004. Wagner (0-2-2) has a pair of draws and two losses through its first four matches with their last game being a 3-0 loss at Manhattan. The Seahawks have allowed nine goals this season.
On Sunday, Fordham heads to Fairfield (2-1), who were handed their first loss of the year on Saturday at #24 Texas A&M by a 3-0 score. The Stags will play Bryant on Thursday before the Sunday matinee against the Rams.
SERIES HISTORY: The Rams and Seahawks have met 11 times previously with Fordham holding a 10-0-1 record over Wagner. Fordham posted a 4-0 win over Wagner last season, highlighted by
Caroline Monahan's two-goal game. The Rams have won the last five meetings over the Seahawks with the lone draw being a 0-0 match in 2001.
Sunday will be the eighth meeting between the Stags and Rams, as Fairfield has gotten most of the decision in the Jesuit school match-up. The Stags are 6-1 against Fordham, which includes a 3-1 victory at Moglia Stadium last year.
Cambrie Arboreen scored the lone Rams' goal. The Rams' lone win over the Stags came in 2012.
LAST TIME OUT (8/25): As the newest class to Fordham University arrived at Rose Hill on Sunday, one of their classmates had a momentous performance at Moglia Stadium. Freshman
Liina Tervo scored three goals in just six minutes and 29 seconds and added an assist, as the Rams improved to 3-0 on the year with a 4-2 win over the UAlbany Great Danes.
After UAlbany opened with a 1-0 lead in the 22
nd minute, the Rams saw one of the fastest hat tricks in Fordham history, beginning in the 36
th minute.
Abby Borchers put on a couple of moves on a defender to the left of goal, crossing the ball to
Liina Tervo at the top of the six-yard box, who deflected it home to knot the game at one. It was Tervo's first collegiate goal.
Tervo struck again in the 41
st minute, getting a through ball from
Tristan McFarlane on the left side. Tervo cut across and went top shelf for her second goal of the game.
The freshman then completed her hat trick in the 43
rd minute, becoming the first Ram since Haley Lentsch in 2006 against Temple to record a hat trick.
Julia Holton started the play with a through ball to
Carmen Hardwick. Hardwick crossed the ball into the box from the right side, finding Tervo for her third marker of the game. It was also the fastest hat trick, bettering Lentsch's, who netted her three markers in six minutes and 49 seconds.
Fordham then capped its scoring in the 63
rd minute, as Holton once again started the play from her defender position. Holton found Tervo up the right side, cutting the toward goal behind the UAlbany defense. Tervo then laid off a perfect pass to
Julia Acosta in front of the net for the tap-in goal. It was Acosta's second goal of the season.
The Great Danes did register a goal in the 89
th minute on a penalty kick goal by Casey Stowell for the 4-2 final margin. In net,
Addison Green had three saves for the Rams, while Emily Dorfman posted seven stops for UAlbany.
TERVO NAMED A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK (8/26): The Atlantic 10 Conference released its weekly women's soccer awards on Monday with Fordham freshman
Liina Tervo (Tuusula, Finland) earning the league's Rookie of the Week honor. It is her first career weekly award.
In her lone appearance of the week, Tervo recorded the fastest hat trick in program history and added an assist in Fordham's 4-2 win over UAlbany on Sunday afternoon at Moglia Stadium. It took Tervo just six minutes and 29 seconds to register the hat trick, scoring in the 36
th, 41
st, and 43
rd minute. She also assisted on Fordham's fourth goal of the game in the 63
rd minute. The last Fordham hat trick for the women's soccer team was by Haley Lentsch in 2006.
WHAT A START!: The Rams are 3-0 for just the third time in team history, matching the 2004 and 2010 seasons. Fordham has never won its first four matches.
THAT WAS FAST: With Fordham scoring just 40 seconds into its first match of the season, that goal was the second fastest marker score in an opening contest this season. The only marker that was quicker came from South Carolina's Katie Shea Collins, who netted her first of three goals against Furman in only 34 seconds.
THAT WAS FAST (PART II): Freshman
Liina Tervo turned in a rare hat trick for the Fordham Rams against UAlbany on August 25
th, scoring three goals in just six minutes and 29 seconds. It was the second fastest hat trick in the NCAA this season with only Tarleton State's Lauren Grissom scoring one faster in five minutes and 10 seconds against Austin College on August 22
nd. Additionally, Tervo's hat trick was the fastest in Fordham history, bettering the six minutes and 49 seconds by Haley Lentsch in 2006 against Temple.
RARE AIR: Across all of college soccer, the international flavor continues to make its mark, and having an international coaching staff is also becoming a trend with Fordham at the forefront. Three of the Rams' coaches,
Magnus Nilerud (Sweden),
Jonathan Macadam (Scotland), and
David Flower (UK) all got their start overseas. Fordham is one of seven schools to have at least three international coaches on staff, joining Arizona State (four), Vanderbilt, Indiana, Purdue, Louisiana Monroe, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
WHO'S NEXT: The Rams continue their road swing on Thursday, September 5
th at Stonehill for a 4:00 PM match, while heading to Yale on Sunday, September 8
th for a 5:00 PM start.
