BRONX, N.Y. – The Fordham men's soccer will begin the postseason on Friday night, taking on top-seeded VCU in Richmond in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Fordham enters the Atlantic 10 Championship as the tournament's no. 8 seed after turning in a 3-3-2 record during conference play. VCU claimed its first regular season conference crown since 2018 after going 5-1-2 in league action. All five of the Richmond Rams' wins this season came against A-10 opponents.
Despite their gap in the conference standings, Fordham (38) currently sits only three spots behind VCU (35) in Monday's RPI rankings. Fordham owns better results against nationally ranked opponents in the non-conference, as the Bronx Rams secured draws with Georgetown and Hofstra, currently ranked no. 5 and no. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, respectively. VCU opened its season with a 1-1 draw against New Hampshire, a team currently ranked 11th in the country. According to RPI Update: VCU has played the second toughest strength of schedule in the country behind only Pittsburgh while Fordham has played the nation's ninth most challenging slate.
Fordham will look to secure its first win since Oct. 4, as the Rams finished the season with an 0-2-4 record over their final six contests. Included in that stretch were four consecutive ties beginning with a 1-1 draw against then-No. 18 Hofstra. Fordham also drew 1-1 on the road at UMass before tying Duquesne and Princeton. Each of those last two draws saw the Rams score in the final five minutes to secure the result. Fordham appeared to be heading for a fifth consecutive draw in the regular season finale at Loyola Chicago before the Ramblers struck in the 85th minute to steal a 1-0 win.
Two Rams enter the postseason ranked among the A-10 offensive statistical leaders, as
Florian Deletioglu is tied for fourth with seven goals while
Timo Hummrich is tied for eighth with a half-dozen markers. Five of Deletioglu's seven goals came during conference action.
On the other end of the pitch,
Carter Abbott ranks in the top five of the conference in both goals against average (0.98- 4th) and goals against average (.754- 5th). The three back-line stalwarts of
Jed Dixon,
Luis Puchol and
Adrian Valentine have each logged more than 1,200 minutes entering the A-10 Tournament.
VCU is led in the offensive end by a trio of three-goal scorers in Jonathan Kanagwa, Damian Gallegos and Papa Toure. Two of Kanagwa's three goals came in the regular season finale, a 4-0 win over St. Bonaventure at home.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper John Ermini has played almost the entire season between the pipes, logging a 1.29 goals against average and a .725 save percentage.
