BRONX, N.Y. – The Fordham men's soccer will look to close out a grueling week-long stretch on a high note when it travels to Dayton for a Saturday night showdown with the Flyers. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.
A live video stream of the match will not be available, but live stats can be found here.
Dayton, the reigning Atlantic 10 Tournament Champion, is not receiving votes in the latest edition of the United Soccer Coaches poll, but checks in at no. 18 in the TopDrawerSoccer rankings that were released on Monday.
Fordham (4-3-4, 1-1-2 A-10) began its toughest three-game stretch of the season with a win last Saturday night at reigning A-10 Regular Season Champion VCU. Louis Lehr scored the game's only goal in the 41st minute of action, as the Bronx Rams took down the 23rd ranked Rams of Richmond. It marked Fordham's second ranked result of the season (a scoreless draw against then-No. 17 Hofstra on Aug. 22), but the Rams' first win over a top-25 foe since the regular season finale of 2017 against No. 25 UMass.
Three nights later in the Bronx, the Rams staged a thrilling comeback to take a point from Saint Louis, a team that has not lost a game in more than a month. The Billikens scored twice in the game's first 21 minutes before Andre Insalaco scored in the 51st minute and Daniel D'Ippolito equalized on a penalty kick with just 1:22 to play. D'Ippolito, who scored his seventh goal of the season, also picked up his fourth assist of the campaign on Insalaco's goal. It marked just the second time this season that Saint Louis had given up multiple goals in a game, as the Billikens had surrendered just six goals in 10 contests before arriving in the Bronx.
D'Ippoltio, a junior captain from Baldwin Place, N.Y., ranks second in the league in goals and points (18) while his four assists are good for fourth. His seven tallies are tied for 22nd in the country in that category while his 18 points are good for 17th nationally. D'Ippolito's seven goals through 11 games are tied for the most by a Fordham player in a season since Jannik Loebe scored nine times in 23 appearances in 2017. Florian Deletioglu scored seven times last season, as did Janos Loebe in 2017 and 2018.
Dayton enters the match with a record of 5-1-3 and is riding a seven-match unbeaten streak. The Flyers have not come out on the wrong end of a result since losing to Jacksonville, 3-0, in the second game of the season on Aug. 25.
The Flyers are led offensively by sophomore Martin Bakken, who has found the back of the net six times in nine games this season. Graduate student Hjalti Sigurdsson has scored five goals and assisted on three others. Graduate student Dario Caetano has played every minute in goal for the Flyers this season, compiling a 1.11 goals against average and a .750 save percentage to go along with two shutouts.
Fordham and Dayton will meet for the first time since 2018 when they take the field on Saturday night. The Flyers lead the all-time series, 12-7-2. Fordham's last trip to Dayton ended with an Atlantic 10 Championship, as the Rams won the 2020-21 conference tournament at Baujan Field. Current Fordham assistant coach Matt Sloan was named the tournament's most outstanding player.
