The University of Rhode Island men’s soccer team snapped a five-game winless streak on Saturday vs Fordham, and continued to build on that momentum with a dominant 8-1 performance against the University of Maine Fort Kent on Tuesday night.
Back to back home victories have the Rams sitting at 4-5-3, coming up on the final stretch.
With a 1-0 win against No. 24 Fordham, and a 8-1 senior night performance against UM Fort Kent, there’s reason to believe the Rams can flip the script on the year as we approach the end of the regular season.
This Rams squad is feeling the momentum, according to head coach Gareth Elliott, as they grow increasingly closer to the .500 mark, after sitting at 2-5-3 before the Fordham contest.
“It feels good, I mean, anytime you’re sort of in a slump, you gotta get that first win out of the way,” Elliott said.
It was third-year Brandon Bermingham who came up big in both contests – The forward has been limited to just six games on the year with injury, but has made a big impact upon returning to the lineup, according to Elliott.
“It’s been a stop and go season with injuries and whatnot”, Elliott said. “He’s getting close, I don’t know if he’s quite there yet, but you can see what he can do if he’s close to 100%.”
Despite appearing in just six contests for the Rams, it is Bermingham who holds the team lead with four goals. All four of Bermingham’s scores came in the last three matches, none bigger than the one that came in the 62nd minute of a stalemate against Fordham.
Relentless defense was the story for both sides for most of the contest. When the final whistle blew, 22 shots turned into just one goal on the statsheet.
That one goal was enough to send Ram’s fans into a frenzy at a packed Rhode Island soccer complex. Bermingham navigated his way into the box through a couple defenders, before finding the back of the net, as his shot curled from the left side of the box to the upper righthand corner of the net, past Fordham goalkeeper Ben Seidl.
“Brandon’s very talented, as you’ve seen from [Fort Kent] and seen from the Fordham game,” Elliott said. “He can really score goals at a high level, we think he’s a dangerous attacking player, all conference level player.”
With 18 minutes remaining, Rhode Island was still far from their first conference victory of the season. They’d have to hold off Fordham’s attack, which had accounted for 20 goals on the year.
A controversial goal-line save from Rhode Island’s third-year keeper Edu Rodriguez and two Fordham corner kicks in the final minute made for an even more dramatic finish. Louis Lehr and other Fordham players believed that Lehr scored off of a corner earlier, after he seemingly put in a header across the line in the 70th minute. Evidently, the official did not see it that way.
URI held on, securing the win against a nationally ranked, conference opponent.
Just three days after the Fordham victory, URI had an opportunity to build on the momentum they created with another home contest against UM Fort Kent.
“You don’t want to get carried away, Fordham was a good result for us”, said Elliott, knowing that they still had business to take care of.
It’s safe to say that the Rams took care of business on Tuesday night with a 8-1 victory vs UM Fort Kent. The eight goal performance was the most in a match for Rhode Island in 33 years, despite rolling out an unfamiliar starting lineup, consisting of all six student-athletes for their senior night.
Fourth-years Shadrach Walker, Michael Tavares, Alberto Molina, Rafa Villanueva, Vetle Nilsen and captain Kevin Castanada were those who were honored this senior night.
“It’s a great opportunity, they’ve put a lot of time into the program, and they deserve their time out there”, Eliott said, referring to the athletes who saw extra opportunities. “It’s great to get them on the field.. At least one of them, maybe a couple of them get on the score sheet tonight.”
Walker was the lone fourth-year who was able to get on the score sheet that night, in the 68th minute, thanks to assists from second-year Michael Hofstetter and third-year Isak Oystese.
Walker was joined by five other Rams with goals to their names. Bermingham and Oystese accounted for two each, while first-year Nate Yurkokic, second-year Mesafint Ellingson, and Hofstetter each put one in the back of the net.
The historic, blistering offensive performance against UM Fort Kent saw the Ram’s improve to 4-5-3 on the year, and 4-1-1 at home.
“We love playing at home in front of the fans,” Elliott said. “[The] crowd [is] phenomenal on a random Tuesday night in the middle of October, it starts to get a little cold, so we couldn’t thank the fans more.”
Elliott and the Rams can look forward to another home contest Saturday, Oct. 14th vs. Virginia Commonwealth University, As they look to carry the momentum from this week into the final four games of the regular season.