Box Score Oct. 13, 2007
Box Score
Bronx, N.Y. - Heading into tonight's Atlantic 10 opener against La Salle, one might wonder how the Rams could finally snap out of an eight-game winless streak, where the team combined for just five goals in that span.
Enter senior captain Kevin Meyer.
Meyer scored three consecutive goals for a natural hat trick to lead the Fordham Rams to a 4-1 victory over the La Salle Explorers at Jack Coffey Field on Friday night.
With the win, Fordham moves to 2-5-3 overall, 1-0 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle falls to 2-7-1 overall, 0-1 in the conference.
Things didn't look good early for Fordham, as La Salle scored just 2:28 into the match. Following a foul, La Salle's Michael Lehr took a free kick from about midfield. The ball was then headed by Joseph Heavey and lifted over the top of the entire Fordham defense and into the net for his first of the season.
The Rams then picked up the equalizer in the 28th minute, which also came off a foul. Fordham's Salim Lewis took a hard charge toward the box, and was upended in the box for a foul, giving Fordham a penalty kick. Kevin Meyer then connected on the penalty kick for his second of the year.
Just over six minutes later, Meyer put the Rams ahead, 2-1 as he just snuck in a cross from Louis Vigliotti inside the left post. La Salle goalkeeper Dan Pfeiffer thought he pinned the ball against the post before the ball rolled over the line, but the referee said the ball did cross the line before Pfeiffer knocked it out.
The game then got a bit ugly in the waning seconds of the first half, as the Explorers' Jeremy Ortiz committed a serious foul infraction, which the referee gave a red card to Ortiz, meaning La Salle would have to play a man down for the rest of the game.
Fordham took advantage of that card, scoring twice in the second half to seal the win. Meyer completed the second hat trick of the season for Fordham in the 64th minute, as Marco Marchitelli fed a pass down the middle of field, hitting Meyer, who chipped it into the net from 15 yards out. Meyer joins Dean Stanic, who had a hat trick in the season opener against Marist.
The Rams capped the scoring in the 81st minute to make it a 4-1 game. Steve Woicik streaked down the far side of the field, and crossed the ball toward the box. Vigliotti picked up the ball and beat the keeper one-on-one for his first collegiate goal.
In net, Fordham's Dan Hajducky recorded his first collegiate victory as he made two saves on the night, while Dan Pfeiffer had six saves for La Salle.
The Fordham men's soccer team will next be in action on Friday, October 19th, as they host Xavier University at 7:00 PM on Jack Coffey Field.
