Score: Fordham 1, (RV) VCU 0
Location: Richmond, Va. (Sports Backers Stadium)
Records: (RV) VCU 9-5-1 (4-3-0 Atlantic 10), Fordham 6-8-1 (4-3-0 A-10)
 
The short story: Fordham scored against the run of play in the 89th minute to hand VCU a heartbreaking loss in an Atlantic 10 clash Saturday night.
 
QUICK FACTS

• VCU held 67% of the possession in the match.
• VCU outshot Fordham 12-10, but Fordham did have a 5-1 edge in shots on goal.
• The tightly-contested match saw 23 combined fouls and five yellow cards.
• VCU is now tied for fourth in the A-10 standings with Fordham, with one conference match left to play.
• Before the match, VCU honored its 11 seniors: Patrick Gyamfi, Pablo Varela Fraga, Jared Greene, Toranosuke Abe, Biska Biyombo, Pierre Fiorre Mane, Ulrik Edvardsen, Oquin Robinson, Zeron Sewell, Simon Fitch, and Mario Sequeira.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Fordham's Matt Sloan had a look at goal in the 14th minute, but Sewell stepped in to cover the net and block the shot.
• While there were few scoring chances either way in the first half, VCU jumped on the attack early in the second. In the 46th minute, Fitch played a long ball to the feet of sophomore winger Celio Pompeu, who laid the ball off to a charging Varela Fraga. The Spaniard played the ball back out wide to Pompeu, who gave the ball to freshman midfielder Philip Klomp on an overlapping run. Klomp played a first-time cross into the six-yard box, where Varela Fraga ran onto it and sent a shot rolling just wide of the post.
• In the 57th minute, Klomp cut inside on his right foot past a defender and fired a rising shot barely over the crossbar.
• Robinson laced a dangerous long-range effort in the 61st minute that rattled the crossbar.
• Pompeu crossed the ball for Robinson in the 86th minute, whose header deflected off a Fordham defender and into the arms of goalkeeper Nick Buchholz.
• Galen Flynn put Fordham on top with just under two minutes left in regulation, scoring on an assist from Paul Makaj.

QUOTING HEAD COACH DAVE GIFFARD
"The game is honest, and we paid tonight for things that are inside our team that need to get sorted out. In a team game, sometimes players need to do things that aren't natural or comfortable for them because the team structure dictates that they do. Tonight we paid for some of those things that during the course of the year have improved, but are still there. We had plenty of chances and control of the game, but remained at 0-0, which then puts a microscope on the defending moments in transition or on set pieces that many college teams live for. Fordham scored in one of those transition moments, but with only a couple of minutes left, and we simply ran out of time to equalize.

It was a harsh but honest lesson for our group. In the college game, any team can beat you, and you have to do the things over and over again consistently that give you the better chance to win. We didn't do enough of those things tonight to make sure that we won."
 
GIFFARD ON THE SENIOR CLASS
"This is not only a special group of players, but more importantly, a special group of people. We've been through so much together as a group the last four and a half years, and these guys will be ones that we will miss around here for a long time. But, I know that each of them will be successful in life and I can't wait to be a fan for their journey."
 
UP NEXT
VCU plays its final non-conference match of the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 27, traveling to Bloomington, Ind., to take on the national runners-up from the spring season, (RV)/#17 Indiana. The match will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus starting at 7 p.m.