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Bronx, N.Y. – (December 18, 2019) – On February 25th, the New York City Soccer Gala will once again honor the past and present of New York City soccer. Among the honorees at this year's event will be former Fordham men's soccer head coach Jim McElderry.
 
The New York City Soccer Gala was formulated by the Division I men's soccer programs of New York City. Soccer in New York City has a proud, rich history and the Gala's goal is to highlight and show appreciation to all those who have devoted their lives to enhancing the game of soccer.
 
McElderry is the seventh Ram to be honored at the event joining former coach Frank Schnur (2013) and players Mark Lugris '83 (2014), Jack Shannon '85 (2015), John Wolyniec '99 (2016), and Chris Donovan '92 (2017), and Chris Gonzalez '95 (2018).
 
McElderry spent 16 years as the head coach at Rose Hill, building a program into a perennial contender in the Atlantic 10 Conference, as well as into a threat on the national stage.
 
When McElderry took over in the spring of 2003, the Rams were coming off back-to-back four-win seasons and were just a few years removed from a winless campaign in 1999.  He started to build a talented roster, bringing in star recruiting classes that featured players from overseas and the United States.  Within three seasons, Fordham had it first winning record under McElderry in 2005, and the first for the team in seven years.  The rest of the Atlantic 10 came to recognize the new level of talent brought in by McElderry and his staff, as 24 players received Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team honors in his tenure.
 
The next building block for McElderry and the program came on a national stage, when the Rams knocked off a nationally ranked top ten opponent in South Florida to begin the 2006 season.  Fordham jumped into the top 25 polls, ranking as high as #12, and stayed in the top 25 for half the season.  The Rams would have eight wins over top 25 opponents during McElderry's stay.
 
The team goal of returning to the Atlantic 10 Championship tournament would wait one more season for McElderry, when the Rams qualified in 2007.  Fordham made nine appearances in the championship from 2007-18, and won a share of the 2011 Atlantic 10 regular season championship.  McElderry was named the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year following the 2011 season and saw seven of his players earn All-Atlantic 10 honors.  He also received the first of his four "Iron Major" awards, given at the annual Block "F" Awards Dinner, as Fordham's Coach of the Year.
 
The momentum of team success by McElderry would culminate in 2014, when the Rams won their first Atlantic 10 Championship since 1996, posting three shutouts in four days.  Five Rams made the All-Championship team and the team went on to compete in the NCAA Championship.
 
McElderry and the Rams replicated that success in 2016, winning their second Atlantic 10 Championship in three seasons in dramatic fashion, taking home the title in a penalty kick shootout over VCU, where goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu stopped three penalty kicks and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Championship.
 
With two appearances in the NCAA Championship in three seasons, McElderry's final step of building Fordham's image as a soccer program was making a statement on the national stage.  In 2017, the Rams made that impact as McElderry led the team to an at-large berth into the NCAA Championship and won their way into the NCAA quarterfinals.  Fordham knocked off St. Francis Brooklyn in the opening round in overtime and followed with an upset win over #11 national seed Virginia.  The Rams then came back on two different occasions and won a penalty kick shootout at #6 Duke to earn a match with #3 North Carolina in the quarterfinals, falling to the Tar Heels on a goal late in regulation.  The team finished the year ranked #11 in the nation.
 
With great team success comes individual accolades.  McElderry saw countless players earn All-Atlantic 10 as well as All-Region honors.  Over his 16 seasons, the Rams had 32 All-Atlantic 10 performers and 27 All-Region selections.  In addition, Fordham had one All-American (Janos Loebe – 2017) and seven major Atlantic 10 award winners, which included three Defensive Players of the Year (Ryan Meara – 2011; Matthew Lewis – 2017; Joergen Oland – 2018), two Offensive Players of the Year (Janos Loebe – 2016 & 2018), one Midfielder of the Year (Tim Richardson – 2008), and one Rookie of the Year (Janos Loebe – 2015).  The Rams were also a consistent recipient of the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award, earning that recognition in each of McElderry's final nine seasons.
 
Following the 2018 season, McElderry ended his tenure at Fordham, taking on the head coaching position at Rutgers University.  He finished his 16 seasons at Fordham with 127 wins, which is second in program history to his predecessor, Frank Schnur.
 
For more information, please visit www.nycsoccergala.com, and to purchase tickets, click here.