Nov. 9, 2008

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA--The Saint Joseph's men's soccer team were unable to stop Fordham, dropping a 4-0 match to the Rams on Sunday at Finnesey Field. The Hawks celebrated Senior Day in which Bryan Benedict, Joe Bodnar, Tom Johnson, Bill Layton, Michael McInaw, Nick Pozzessere, and Andrew Tursi all appeared in their final game on Hawk Hill.

Fordham controlled the game from beginning to end against a short-handed SJU squad. The Hawks were without their two leading scorers, Colin Baker and Giacomo DiLisi due to injuries. The Rams were only able to muster a single goal in the first half, as Saint Joseph's made seven saves, six by Benedict.

The second half was more of the same, although the Hawks saw a soft floater from Travis Gast and a free kick blast by Gast almost get by Fordham's Ryan Meara (three saves), who came up with the stop both times.

In the second half head coach Tom Turner subbed reserve goalkeeper Bodnar for Benedict, ending Benedict's day in net with nine saves.

With the game at 4-0, Benedict re-entered the game wearing Baker's signature #16 jersey to play the field, replacing captain McInaw in a touching moment for both players. A few plays later a through ball made it past Fordham's defense and Benedict just missed running onto the ball and having a chance on net.

The win for Fordham (10-8-2, 5-3-1 Atlantic 10)) and a loss by Charlotte at UMass and a loss by GW to St. Bonaventure clinched the fifth-seed for the Rams, who were on the outside looking in entering the match.

Saint Joseph's wrapped up its season with a 5-8-2 record, 2-6-1 in the Atlantic 10. The five wins matched the total the Hawks had last season. SJU finished 12th in the conference, better than the predicted 14th place the coaches' pegged the Hawks at prior to the season.

Saint Joseph's also can lay claim to the Philadelphia Soccer Seven title clinched on Friday night after the win over La Salle, it's first PS7 title since 1993.

~~~Photos from today's game can be purchased at SidePhotos.com~~~