Ryan Meara Becomes Fordham’s All-Time Shutout Leader as the Rams Blank #23 Xavier, 1-0

October 7, 2011

Behind the strong play of Ryan Meara in the pipes and a first-half marker from senior, Matt Courtenay, the Fordham men’s soccer team opened up Atlantic 10 play with an upset of #23 Xavier.  In the victory, Meara became the all-time shutout leader in Fordham history with 28 clean sheets, surpassing Jeff Knuth’s mark of 27.

                                                                                                                          

The Rams last win over a ranked opponent on the road came on August 27, 2006, when Fordham defeated #9 South Florida, 2-1.  They also beat #9 Saint Louis, 1-0 on Sunday, October 12, 2008, but that game was at Jack Coffey Field.

 

Fordham had two scoring chances in the first 15 minutes as John Niyonsaba blasted a shot that Justin Marshall brought in for the save.  In the 16th minute, Tim Richardson got his head to the ball, but Marshall turned that aside as well.  Richardson had another scoring chance in the 34th minute.


The game turned in Fordham’s favor in the 36th minute, as Niyonsaba put a through ball to Matt Courtenay, who blasted it into the upper 90 to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.  Meara, who sent the shutout mark, made all four of his saves in the second half of the game.

 

The Musketeers first challenged Meara in the 53rd minute when Luke Spencer put a shot on net that Meara turned aside.  In the 64th minute, Andrew Boisvert tried Meara, but Meara parried that one as well.  He turned aside two more attempts to record his 28th career shutout, the most by any Fordham player.

 

In the game, the Rams outshot the Musketeers 13-12 and Niyonsaba and Julian Nagel each took three shots.  With the win, Fordham improves to 5-4-1, 1-0 in the A-10, while Xavier is 6-2-1, 0-1.  Fordham closes out its Ohio road trip on Sunday when the Rams face the Dayton Flyers at 1:00 PM.

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