The Fordham Rams sent their seniors out in style with a 4-0 rout of the La Salle Explorers on Senior Night.

In the last home game of their careers, the Rams’ seniors put on a quite a show, scoring all four of the team’s goals. John Niyonsaba, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’12, and Tim Richardson, FCRH ’12, scored the team’s first two goals and Aaron Markowitz, FCRH ’12, put home the next two. Making the moment even more special was the fact that Markowitz and Richardson hadn’t found the back of the net all season, but picked the perfect night to get it going.

Team captain, goalkeeper and senior Ryan Meara, FCRH ’12, said, “You know we have 11 seniors and it was a huge conference game for us without senior day. You add the whole senior day aspect and it was just pretty emotional. To go out with a win and to come out winning 4-0 it was really just amazing.”

With the win over La Salle, Fordham sits at second place in the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Conference with a 5-2 conference record, just 2 points behind the Charlotte 49ers. Even more important, Fordham followed up their biggest win of the season, a 1-0 upset win at home over #10 Charlotte, with an almost flawless performance against La Salle, to keep pace with the 49ers.

“Our biggest win this season was against Charlotte at home,” Coach McEldry said. “Not only were they 10th in the country, but we had lost that Friday at St. Louis. So not only was it an important win for us to get a little bit of national recognition, but it was really important for the conference standings. We got three points for a win in conference at home against a good team and I think that really helped because we kept that momentum going into the game against La Salle last week.”

Most crucial for Fordham the team finally seems to be clicking on all cylinders. Since starting the season 3-4-1, the Rams have turned things around going 6-2. The string of wins shows the type of steady, high-level play that the Rams were capable of, but had just not been living up to.

“You try to be as consistent as you can,” McEldry said. “There are flashes of us playing really well and I’m confident we can compete with anyone in the country, but we’ve got to continue to be consistent. Every game is a test so we’ve got to just continue to work on being a good team and not just playing well a game here and a game there.”

The steadiest player for the Rams this season has been Ryan Meara. Meara has had an outstanding season to this point, boasting a 0.59 Goals Against Average (GAA) with nine shutouts. He has broken many school records this season, most impressively the shutouts record. “The good thing about records is it means the team is playing well,” Meara said. “I guess the records will be good to look back on years down the road when I’m done playing, but more importantly to me the shutout record that means the whole team has playing well. It’s not just an individual award, but rather a team accomplishment.”

Behind Meara and a strong late season push, the Rams have put themselves in a good position to make a run at the A-10 Championship. “We have some good momentum heading into the last weeks of the season, but we still need to get some results to qualify for the playoffs and finish at the top of the league like we want to,” McEldry said. “With the A-10 championship in the years past, there was a clear-cut favorite. This year anyone who qualifies for tournament can win it, and if we qualify, which I’m confident we will, we have a good a chance as anyone.