NEW YORK — The Columbia women's soccer team and Fairleigh Dickinson University walked away after 90 minutes with a 0-0 draw on Thursday night. The game marked Columbia's home opener after the Lions started the year with three games on the road.
 
Columbia (0-1-3) outshot FDU (0-2-4) by a margin of 11-6 on the evening, including 7-2 in the second half, and out-cornered the Knights, 9-3. The Lions applied a lot of pressure in the final 25 minutes to try and cement their first win. Gabby Chan hit the right woodwork from right in front in the 68th minute and Courtney Ruedt headed a corner delivered to the center of the box off the crossbar with less than two minutes remaining. One final corner delivered from the far side found the head of Ruedt but it dribbled wide as the clock hit 0:00. Ruedt was credited with a game-high three shot attempts.
 
Senior goalkeeper Lauren Rodriguez came up with three massive saves to keep the Knights off the scoreboard. Katia Cardaba delivered a free kick from just outside the top of the 18-yard box that Rodriguez dove to her left and punched away. The rebound was sent to Elisa Garcia, whose hard shot from just outside the six was stopped, again, by Rodriguez. The keeper's final highlight came in the 77th minute, punching a floating shot from distance out from under the crossbar. Rodriguez picked up her second shutout of the season.

UP NEXT
The Lions will head back on the road for a big test against No. 2 North Carolina (6-1-0) on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Tar Heels were just handed their first loss Thursday night in a rivalry match against Duke.
 
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.