DAYTON, Ohio – Senior Jannik Loebe scored in the 83rd minute to give Fordham University a 3-2 win over Dayton University in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championship at Baujan Field Saturday night.
Janos Loebe found his way down the left side, putting a cross into the box for Jannik Loebe. Jannik Loebe finished into the left side of goal from seven yards for his sixth goal of the season. It marked Jannik’s second game-winning goal of the season and ninth of his career) and the fourth consecutive A-10 Championship in which he has scored.
“What a game!” Fordham head coach Jim McElderry said. “Credit to Dayton as they are a very good team and pushed us to the limit. I could not be more proud of this team. We did not play as well as we would have like at times, but fatigue from the week played a part. But the group fought the entire match, showed great mental strength and simply competed for 90 minutes. We will recover and look forward to next weekend.”
A wild scoring affair began in the 35th minute, when Fordham (12-4-2) struck first. Connor DeFillips and Bart Dziedzic played passes to each other up the right side with Dziedzic having possession in the box. Dziedzic turned and shot the ball far post, netting his second goal this season.
The Flyers (9-8-2) knotted things up in the 65th minute off the boot of Thor Helgason. Rok Taneski worked his way to the endline, sending a cross back toward the penalty spot. The ball deflected off Kyran McGhan-George to Helgason for a sliding finish past goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu.
Ten minutes later, Fordham retook the lead at 2-1 in the 75th minute. Dayton cleared out a corner kick to Rams defender Vincenzo Zuccala, short of midfield. Zuccala played a long ball right onto the chest of Matthew Lewis, deflecting the ball to Joergen Oland. Oland fired the ball into the left side of goal for his career-high fourth goal of the season.
The Flyers responded with another tally to equalize at 2-2 in the 78th minute. Ben Leba deflected a shot off a Fordham defender to Nick Hagenkord. Hagenkord sent the ball to James Haupt for a volley to the upper right side of goal for his fourth this year.
The Rams await the winner of the Saint Louis-Massachusetts game (Sunday at 1 p.m.) in the first A-10 semifinal Friday starting at 4:30 p.m. at Dayton’s Baujan Field.
