Men's Soccer Draws With Duquesne, 1-1, on Senior Night

BRONX, N.Y.  – Trailing 1-0 with just over five minutes remaining in the second half, the Fordham men's soccer team tallied a late equalizer to pull even with Duquesne and secure a 1-1 draw with the Dukes on Saturday night at Moglia Stadium.
 
With the draw, Fordham moved to 6-2-6 on the season, including a 3-2-2 record in league play.  Duquesne remained tied with Fordham in the conference standings with a 3-2-2 league mark and a 6-6-3 record overall. 
 
By way of its result on Saturday, Fordham has now secured a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship, as the team in ninth place can no longer match the Rams' 11-point total with one game remaining. The top eight teams in the final conference standings earn a bid to the tournament and the top four teams host a quarterfinal match.
 
Daniel D'Ippolito tallied his fourth goal of the year for the Rams, tying the game in the 85^th minute after heading home a cross from Sigfus Arnason.  Arnason's assist was his third of the campaign.
 
Despite trailing for a large percentage of the match, Fordham dominated from start to finish.  On the evening, shots were 24-5 in favor of the Rams with roughly 10 of those Fordham shots resulting in legitimate scoring opportunities.  Fordham also held a 5-0 edge in corner kicks.
 
D'Ippolito tallied a career-high seven shots, three of which were on goal.  Florian Deletioglu registered four shots while Louis Lehr added three. 
 
Reigning A-10 Defensive Player of the Week Carter Abbott played all 90 minutes in goal, making one save on his way to his sixth draw of the season. 
 
Fordham came out of the gate firing, registering the game's first six shots and outshooting the Dukes, 12-2, in the opening half.  It was Duquesne's second shot of the half that found the back of the net, as Jayden Da scored at a nearly impossible angle on the right side after taking a long pass Nate Dragisich. 
 
The Rams continued to control possession on the other side of intermission, but struggled to finish, rattling off a series of frustrating near misses. 
 
Fordham, however, persisted, finally breaking through in the 85^th minute.  Arnason took possession of the ball at the outskirts of the offensive zone before beginning a long run down the left sideline.  The graduate student cut in toward the box before sending in a cross toward D'Ippolito, who headed it down off the turf and into the back of the cage. 
 
Prior to the game, Fordham honored the contributions of more than a dozen graduate students and seniors in their final year with the program.  In addition to Senior Night, the Rams also hosted Alumni Night against Duquesne, welcoming back more than 100 former players.  At halftime, a special on-field ceremony honored the memory of Kurt Byerly, FCRH '94, a former team captain who passed away unexpectedly in May.
 
The Rams will play their final non-league match on Tuesday night, traveling to Princeton to take on the Tigers at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.  Fordham will then close the regular season in The Windy City when they face Loyola Chicago on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.