Bronx, N.Y. – (October 31, 2025) – For the second straight season, the Fordham women's soccer team has earned a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship following a 10-6-2 season and a 5-4-1 mark in the Atlantic 10. As the sixth seed, the Rams will travel to Pittsburgh to face the third-seeded Duquesne Dukes at 2:30 PM on Saturday, November 1st.
Fordham reached 10 wins for the ninth time in program history, and have back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Overall, this is Fordham's 12th trip to the conference championship and searching for its first win in the championship since 2015, when the Rams made the final for the third time in program history.
LAST TIME OUT
- The Fordham women's soccer team took care of business on Sunday, posting a 4-0 shutout win at George Washington to clinch a berth in the 2025 Atlantic 10 Championship.
- Fordham opened the scoring in the 21st minute, when Liina Tervo intercepted a clearance pass from the George Washington goalkeeper and found Salma Simonin for her second goal of the season, scoring inside the right post.
- The Rams tacked on a second goal in the 37th minute. Tervo fought off a defender with the referee playing advantage to Riley Carroll, who scored her fourth goal of the season.
- Julia Acosta and Simonin then scored in the second half to complete the 4-0 win.
SERIES HISTORY
- This will be the 22nd all-time meeting between Fordham and Duquesne with the Rams ahead in the series at 10-8-3.
- The squads have me just once over the last seven seasons - a 3-1 win for the Rams at Moglia Stadium on October 3, 2024. In that game, Fordham scored three times in the first half, which included two goals by Ryann Lucas and one by Julia Acosta, while Duquesne recorded a second half goal by Maya Matesa.
- The teams have met twice in the Atlantic 10 Championship with each team earning a win. Fordham won 1-0 at the 2008 Championship, while Duquesne won the 2015 Atlantic 10 Championship with a 2-0 victory over the Rams.
SCOUTING DUQUESNE
- The Dukes had one of their finest regular seasons in 2025, leading the Atlantic 10 in scoring with 43 goals, their most as a Division I program.
- Among those 43 goals, 17 have come from the league's leading scorer, Maya Matesa, who captured her third Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday.
- In goal, Ali Hughes has played every second of the 2025 season, posting a 1.06 goals against average and seven shutouts.
NEWS & NOTES
- In just two short seasons, Fordham's Liina Tervo has already become one of the most prolific scorers in Rams' history. The 2024 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year has 20 goals and 14 assists for 54 points, becoming the seventh Fordham player to reach 20 goals and 50 points in her career. Additionally, she joined Denise Corrado (1995 & 1996) and Kirstin Gellatly (2001 & 2002) as the only Rams with two 10-goal seasons, while her four game-winning goals in 2025 are one shy of the school record.
- For the first time in team history, the Rams have five players with at least 10 points this season in Liina Tervo (26), Lena Johnsen (12), Ava Giudice (11), Julia Acosta (11), and Renata Mercedes (10).
- Fordham is tied for second in the Atlantic 10 in scoring, averaging 1.89 goals per game.
- The Rams are led by 2024 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Magnus Nilerud, who is in his fourth season at Rose Hill (29-32-11 at Fordham; 324-160-38 overall)
WHO'S NEXT
- With a win, Fordham would move on to the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals, which will be on November 5th at the higher seeded team's campus.
