A goalkeeper from Ghana pursues his ‘right to dream’

As a child in Ghana, Rashid Nuhu attended Right to Dream, a youth development academy that combines soccer training with academic coursework. He earned a scholarship to the Kent School in Connecticut, where he was encouraged to consider Fordham by fellow Right to Dream graduate Nathaniel Bekoe, GABELLI ’14, who played for the Rams from 2010 to 2013.

Nuhu starred at Rose Hill, helping to lead Fordham to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals in 2018 before earning a degree in economics.

But professional success didn’t come immediately. He was drafted by the New York Red Bulls in 2019 and spent a year in the club’s development system. Without a contract after parting ways with the organization, Nuhu began training at Rose Hill. One day, men’s soccer coach Carlo Acquista told him about an opportunity to try out for Union Omaha in the third-division USL League One, whose coach had inquired about Nuhu.

“I was like, Yeah, why not?” Nuhu says. “I didn’t have a team. If there’s a team that wants me, that’s what I want.”

Nuhu went to the tryout, made the team, and has thrived ever since, winning a championship with the club in 2021 and earning the 2022 Golden Glove award as the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year.

“It was surreal for me, going through hardship,” he says. “I could have given up, I could have quit, but I kept on going and now things are falling into place, and it feels great to see your hard work pay off.”

Loebe, a senior from Germany majoring in business administration at the Gabelli School of Business, was the 22^nd selection of the first round of the draft. Nuhu, a senior from Ghana who is majoring in economics at Fordham College at Rose Hill, was selected 22^nd in the third round (70^th selection overall).

This is the first time that Fordham has had two MLS SuperDraft selections in the same year. Nuhu and Loebe are also the third and fourth Rams to join the Red Bulls, following Ryan Meara, who was a second-round selection in 2012, and John Wolyniec, who was a first-round selection (seventh overall) by the then-NY/NJ MetroStars in 1999.

Read more about Loebe and Nuhu at Fordham Sports.

And watch a Fordham News video about the men’s soccer team, whose players speak 13 languages between them.

The win moves Fordham (14-5-2) into the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, and will face #6 seed Duke on Saturday, November 25th, at 6 PM.  The win also set a new program record for wins in a season with 14, breaking the mark of 13, set in 1985.

The lone goal of the game came on a Rams’ counterattack, where the ball found Jannik Loebe for a shot which was stopped by Virginia’s Jeff Caldwell.  Loebe got back the rebound and crossed the ball in front to Eric Ohlendorf for the header into the right side of goal for his first goal of the season.

The Rams played an excellent defensive game, limiting the Cavaliers to five shots on goal, which goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu handled all five for his 11th shutout of the season.