NEW YORK – Maia Tabion and Ania Prussak each found the net in the first 25 minutes of Thursday night's contest at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium to help lead Columbia (1-2-3) to a 2-0 shutout victory against Fordham (5-2-1).
 
The Lions struck first in the 17^th minute when Nata Ramirez and Prussak were credited with a double assist with two quick passes to Tabion who was in the center of the box. Tabion drove the ball closer in to the goal and slid it under the arm of Fordham goalkeeper Kyla King to put the Lions ahead early.
 
Prussak was able to secure a goal of her own just eight minutes later with assists from Marcia Ojo and Sophia Cavaliere. Cavaliere lobbed a shot to Ojo who then found Prussak on a quick pass. Prussak followed the ball and was able to place it in the bottom left side of the net to give Columbia a 2-0 advantage.
 
"I think today we started out super composed and we finally got our momentum together with the new formation," Prussak said. "We are now figuring out how each other plays. A big thing of ours has been trying to find a way to score and I think once we find that early on, that sets the tone for the rest of the game and helps us play together as a team."
 
The Columbia defense held strong in the second half to thwart a few good looks from Fordham including a shot from Julia Acosta that rocked off the crossbar in the 74^th minute.
 
"One of our goals is to always have a shutout," Bartholomew said. "That is something in our program we want to do. When we don't have the ball, we are thinking about defending and organizing in case we lose the ball in transition, which at this level you do. I think we did a good job of shutting down and putting more pressure on some of the shots. Dema, Justina and Courtney really locked things down back there. It was hard to get much by them, which was great."
 
Lauren Rodriguez earned the start in the goalkeeper spot as she played 64 minutes and registered one save. Samantha Mahoney came in during the second half and played 26 minutes as the two combined for a clean sheet.
 
UP NEXT
Columbia is back on the road for another tough test against No. 12 Penn State on Sunday. First kick is slated for 1 p.m. in University Park, Pennsylvania.
 
FOLLOWING THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women's soccer program, follow @CULionsWSOC on X, Instagram, Facebook at Facebook.com/ColumbiaWSoccer and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.