Bronx, N.Y. – (October 4, 2022) – The Fordham men's soccer team hits the midway point of conference play this week, as the Rams have a pair of league contests, starting on Wednesday night at Davidson. Fordham then hosts Saint Louis on Saturday at 6:00 PM.
Fordham (3-1-6, 1-0-2 A10) added another point to their conference total last Saturday, using a late goal by
Jakob Gesien to earn a 2-2 draw with Massachusetts.
Daniel Espeleta also scored in that game, which helped him pick up his first Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday. The Rams are now unbeaten in nine straight contests.
Davidson (4-6-1, 1-2-0 A10) had a three-match win streak snapped on Saturday after a 3-1 loss at Saint Joseph's. Prior to that, the Wildcats picked up wins over Virginia Tech, George Mason, and Radford. The Wildcats boast one of the league's leading scorers in Denis Krioutchenkov, who has seven goals on the season. In goal, Davidson has split the duties between Lou Liedtka and Giacomo Piccardo, combining for four shutouts and a 1.27 goals against average.
Saint Louis (5-3-1, 2-0-1 A10) will play at Rhode Island on Wednesday before coming to Rose Hill on Saturday. The Billikens begin the week in a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 with Dayton and Duquesne and are on a five-match unbeaten streak (4-0-1). John Klein leads the offensive attack with five goals and 11 points this season, while in net, Carlos Tofern has made six starts, recording 21 saves and a 1.00 goals against average.
GAME COVERAGE:
Wednesday – Fordham at Davidson – 7:00 PM –
Live Video (ESPN+) |
Live Stats | Follow on social media - Facebook/Twitter/InstaGram - @FordhamSoccer
Saturday – Saint Louis at Fordham – 6:00 PM –
Live Video (ESPN+) |
Live Stats |
International Feed | Follow on social media - Facebook/Twitter/InstaGram - @FordhamSoccer
SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday's meeting at Davidson will be the fifth between the Rams and Wildcats. The Rams are 4-0 in the previous four meetings, highlighted by a 5-1 win at Jack Coffey Field last season. In that game, Fordham got two goals from
Matt Sloan and single markers from
Galen Flynn,
Florian Deletioglu, and
Luke McNamara.
On Saturday, it will be 16
th all-time meeting for the Rams and Billikens. Saint Louis holds a slight edge in the series with an 8-6-1 record after playing twice last season. Saint Louis won the regular season meeting by a 2-0 score, while in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals, the teams played to a 0-0 draw.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Make sure to follow the Fordham Rams all season long on their social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram - @FordhamSoccer
Daniel Espeleta
ESPELETA NAMED A-10 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (10/3): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its men's soccer weekly awards on Monday with Fordham's
Daniel Espeleta (Athens, Ga.) being named Offensive Player of the Week. He is the second Ram to earn a weekly award this season, joining
Nathan Simes, who has two Rookie of the Week awards to his credit.
Espeleta scored his first two goals as a Ram this past week. He began the week by netting the game-tying goal on Monday in a 1-1 draw at Rutgers. He followed with Fordham's first goal on Saturday against Massachusetts, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
LAST TIME OUT: Fordham's
Jakob Gesien scored the game-tying goal in the 89
th minute, as the Rams finished with a 2-2 draw against the Massachusetts Minutemen in men's soccer action on Saturday night at Jack Coffey Field.
The Minutemen struck first in the eighth minute, as Andrew Ortiz collected a deflection and found Evan Fournier for a shot to the upper right corner for his third goal of the season.
Fordham tied the match at one in the 30
th minute, as the play began with a long punt forward by
Demetri Skoumbakis. The punt bounced once with
Florian Deletioglu giving a quick head flick to put
Daniel Espeleta in on a breakaway. Espeleta slotted the shot past the keeper for his second goal in as many games.
The score remained tied until the Minutemen went back in front in the 75
th minute. Fournier put forward a lead pass to Shizu Yohena, who blasted a bullet under the crossbar from 25 yards for his second tally of the year.
The Rams pressed to get the equalizer and were rewarded in the 89
th minute. The ball was played toward the net and deflected out by a UMass defender to the top of the box.
Jakob Gesien got to the loose ball and fired a shot off the left post. The ball went across the line and hit the right post and just got over the line to knot the game at two. It was Gesien's first goal as a Ram.
In net, both Skoumbakis and UMass' Matt Zambetti had four saves for their respective teams.
NEWCOMERS SHOWING OUT: Fordham has seen the newest additions to the roster for the 2022 season contribute early and often. Newcomers have accounted for 12 of the 16 goals on the season, led by freshman
Nathan Simes with five. The Rams also have two goals from
Ben Shepherd and
Daniel Espeleta, and single markers by
Timo Hummrich,
Paolo Primavera, and
Jakob Gesien on the year.
The Rams also have a newcomer in goal with
Demetri Skoumbakis, who has solidified himself as Fordham's top goalkeeper. Through nine matches, the transfer from LIU has three shutouts, a 1.11 goals against average, and 29 total saves.
FIT TO BE TIED: With the decision to not play overtime during the regular season, the men's soccer season has seen plenty of draws this season and Fordham has been no exception. The Rams have played to a tie score on six occasions in 2022, which is already a program record. The previous high was five in 2005 and 2006.
RAMSES CHALLENGE: As a part of a new fundraising challenge this season, fans can pledge support for the team in the Ramses Challenge for each goal the men's soccer team scores this season.
Be a part of the challenge by clicking here.
WHO'S NEXT: Following this week's matches, the Rams are next in action on Saturday, October 15
th, when the team heads to Saint Joseph's for a 5:00 PM match.
