It’s been a roller coaster season for the Fordham University women’s soccer team, but the Rams seem to be gelling, amassing a 6-2-1 record, after a 0-2-1 start.

Rams head coach Ness Selmani has been pleased with the progress of his team over the course of this season. “I’m happy with our performance, but we’ve had so many ups and downs,” Selmani said. “When you have so many freshmen, we have eight freshmen and one transfer student, those things are going to happen. But the team is really playing well now.”

Selmani felt the inconstancies in play resulted from the team’s freskhmen needing to adapt to the college game. The Rams’ head coach said, “When a team has so many freshmen, you’re going to be struggle at times because it’s a totally different game in college. Everything counts now and they need to grasp how important every game is. It’s no longer a high school club game.”

The main struggle for this squad has occurred in away games. The Rams have lacked poise on the road, stumbling to a horrendous 1-4-1 record on the road that includes a 13-1 drubbing by 17th ranked Texas A&M.

Despite their inconsistent play, Selmani feels the freshmen are the team’s greatest weapon. “Our freshman class has been our biggest strength,” Selmani said.  “Besides being good students, they are soccer-oriented women who love to play. They make practices and games fun and they get very excited for wins. They are an unusual bunch of girls who make it pleasure to coach them.”

The Ram who has been most consistent has been freshman Kristina Maksuti, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’15. Maksuti has led the Fordham attack with eight goals this season. Her total is double that of the team’s next leading scorer. The freshmen is also second on the team in assists (3) and first on the team in points (11).

Maksuti was one of the key freshmen Selmani was talking of when he said freshman were spearheading the team’s attack. “The consistency is not there, but overall our freshman class changed the picture of whole team,” Selmani said. “If you look at the stats you’ll see the freshmen are doing most of damage this year scoring goals.”

While the Rams have been getting more than they could have asked for out of their leading freshmen, the team’s veterans have left something to be desired. Though senior Mariella Romano, FCRH ’15 is second on the team in goals (4) and tied for third on the team in points (5), her head coach feels she can do more.

“Senior captain Mariella Romano is the key to our winning games,” Selmani said. “I expect her to do kind of better in orchestrating the offense this year. She’s the quarterback and the one who can make this happen in a big way. She is key to winning the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Conference. I don’t think she is playing to her full potential and its frustrating to see that she’s not as loose as she should be as a senior. She’s playing fantastic but still has more talent than she’s using.”

The Rams will need everything they can get from Romano and the rest of their players, as the remaining games on the schedule are all important conference games. Since the start of Conference play the team has started great going 1-0-1. They tied 0-0 against Saint Joseph’s on Sept. 30 and beat Temple 1-0 on Oct. 2.

The women’s squad played excellent defense and had great goaltending in both games. They will need to build on these strong performances if they want to make a run at the A-10 championship.

Their last win moved their home record to an impressive 4-0-1. However, the true test begins when the team goes on the road for four straight games, beginning Oct. 14. That road trip will tell if the Rams are ready to make a serious push for conference glory.

Selmani thinks that this team is ready and is very confident in his squad. “I think this would be one of the years that we really have the chance to be on top. Soccer’s a strange sports, but if were consistent we have a chance to win it all.”