SPORTS
February 16, 2022
News & Notes Fordham Women’s Soccer Hires a New Coach
Last week, Fordham Athletics Director Ed Kull announced Magnus Nilerud as the new head coach of the women’s soccer program, making him the fourth head coach in team history. No stranger to college soccer, Nielrud is coming off an illustrious 23-year run at the University of Bridgeport. There, he posted a 295–126–27 record, making 11 NCAA appearances, winning three NCAA Regionals and also winning the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2018. Nilerud is a rare talent, as he is one of only two active coaches in the East region with at least 250 career victories and ranks in the top 15 in the nation for alltime winningest active coaches by wins and win percentage. In terms of awards, Nilerud has been named two-time NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year (in 2015 and 2018), a threetime Regional Coach of the Year (in 2011, 2015 and 2018) and an eight-time East Coast Conference (ECC) Coach of the Year.
Hans Zdolsek Wins Swedish Player of the Year After a season filled with accolades for the men’s water polo team, graduate student Hans Zdolsek adds another award to their growing list of achievements. Zdolsek was named the 2021 Swedish Men’s Water Polo Player of the Year. An Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Honorable Mention All-American, Zdolsek received First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference East for the second straight season in 2021 and was the first Ram to be named MAWPC East Most Valuable Player. Zdolsek was then the MAWPC Championship Most Outstanding Player which Fordham won for the first time in team history. He finished the year with 47 goals, 38 assists, 43 steals and a team-best 19 blocks. His 47 goals tied for fourth on the team with 12 coming on the man-advantage, which was fourth on the squad.
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Varsity Scores & Stats Softball Grand Canyon Classic Fordham Weber State
1 5
Fordham Grand Canyon [5 Innings]
2 10
Weber State Fordham
1 4
Kansas Fordham
2 6
N. Colorado Fordham
3 2
Track & Field Rutgers Invitational & BU Valentine Invitational No Team Scoring
Women’s Basketball Rhode Island Fordham A. DeWolfe 10 PTS
58 43
Men’s Basketball Fordham 66 Duquesne 54 C. Ohams 18 PTS, 14 REBS Fordham VCU J. Navarro 20 PTS
61 66
Squash Fordham Bucknell
4 5
Fordham Penn Club
7 2
Fordham Lehigh
9 0
Fordham Conneticut
8 1
Men’s Tennis Fordham St. Francis Brooklyn
1 4
Fordham Brown
0 7
Women’s Tennis Fordham LIU
2 5
Fordham St. Francis Brooklyn
7 0
–Compiled by Maddie Bimonte
–Compiled by Maddie Bimonte
COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS
Softball continues their road games this week.
Women’s Tennis Splits Weekend Series By LOU ORLANDO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Fordham Women’s Tennis concluded its two-week homestand with a pair of games this weekend. The team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, losing 5-2 to Long Island University (LIU), but rebounded quickly, defeating St. Francis College 7-0 on Sunday. They sit at 3-1 as they prepare for a month-long road stretch. Fordham entered the weekend coming off a dominant 6-1 win last Saturday against Fairleigh Dickinson, but struggled against a very talented LIU team. LIU held Fordham to just two singles points, winning the remaining four singles matchups and two of the three doubles matchups to earn the doubles point. Carlota Casasampere Escoda and Nicole Li were handed their first losses in singles play while Avery Aude and Lorraine Bergmann also took losses in #1 and #2 singles respectively. The duo of Valeriya Deminova and Bergmann as well as that
COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS
Women’s Tennis battled hard this weekend.
of Casasampere Escoda and Aude fell in their doubles matchups. Deminova won her third straight matchup in singles while sophomore Eleni Fosoula continued to impress, winning both her singles matchup and her doubles matchup paired with Rachelle Yang. Fordham bounced back quickly against St. Francis College, which entered Sunday winless at 0-4, coming off two straight 7-0 losses to start the spring season. However, Fordham was more than willing to hand them their third straight 7-0 loss, winning the doubles point and all six singles matchups. Senior Genevieve Quenville earned her wins in both singles and doubles play in her first appearance this season and Bergmann earned her first win in singles play. Fasoula is off to a red hot 6-0 start this season with three singles wins and three doubles wins. Rachelle Yang is also undefeated in combined singles and doubles play. This weekend series marks the end of a brief three-game homestand. Fordham hits the road for a four-game stretch, beginning with Boston University on Feb. 26. While the road trip includes a game in Flushing, New York against Queens College, Fordham won’t technically have another home game for about a month as they go off to play Drexel University, Quinnipiac University and Queens College . They’ll return to Life Time Athletic on March 13 to face Siena College.
COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS
Men’s Baketball looks to rebound after a loss on Tuesday.
Women’s Basketball Falls at Rhode Island By KALEY BELL
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR EMERITA
Historically, the Fordham Rams have always taken the win against the Rhode Island Rams. In their last eight meetings, Fordham consistently came out on top. However, history has been ignored and Rhode Island took the win for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Fordham’s women’s basketball team hadn’t taken a loss since Jan. 23 against Dayton, but this past Sunday, Fordham came up short, losing 58-43. The Rhode Island Rams came into the game ready to defend their home court and their 12 game winning streak. And they were able to do so. Rhode Island also boasted an undefeated conference record coming into the contest. Fordham had over a week of rest heading into the matchup following a road
win against Duquesne on Feb. 5. The team knew that Rhode Island would be tough to beat, but with their own winning streak to defend, they were ready to show the opponent all they had. Throughout the whole game, the Fordham Rams struggled to make shots. Fordham shot just 28.2% from the field and 20% from three point range, highlighting their difficulties on the offensive end. Senior Asiah Dingle and junior Anna DeWolfe had the most points for the team, each with 10, as they found themselves outscored by Rhode Island’s top players. Rhode Island was able to take advantage of the offday that Fordham had. The Rhody Rams had 40 rebounds as a team, 31 of these being defensive rebounds. This created the scoring opportunities that Rhode Island needed in order to defeat Fordham.
Shooting and rebounds do not account for the whole story. Rhode Island had difficulty with the ball themselves as they had 16 turnovers. Fordham was unable to convert these turnovers into points, and it cost them the game. On the same end, Fordham had 13 turnovers that pushed the Rhode Island Rams to add to their winning streak. With the loss, Fordham falls to 16-6 in the season and 7-3 in conference play, while Rhode Island improves to 20-3 and a perfect 10-0 in conference play. Rhody sits atop the Atlantic-10 conference, while Fordham is slightly behind in fourth place. Fordham is back in action again to lock down a win on Wednesday to face the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Minutemen in Amherst, Massachusetts. The game starts at 7 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+ and on WFUV radio.
COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS
The women’s basketball team had their three game winning streak snapped against Rhode Island on Sunday.
