BRONX, N.Y. – Having already locked up a postseason berth with a win over Loyola Chicago this past weekend, the Fordham men's soccer team will head to Pittsburgh on Saturday to close out the regular season at Duquesne. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Rams and Dukes are both guaranteed spot in next week's Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship, but seeding for the championship has yet to be finalized. Duquesne (11-3-1, 5-2-0) is currently tied for second in the league ledger while Fordham (7-4-4, 4-1-2) sits just one point back in a tie for fourth.
The top eight teams in the final Atlantic 10 regular season standings earn a spot in the conference tournament with the top four teams hosting a quarterfinal. Fordham (14 pts) will stay in the top four with a win and could still possibly stay inside that crucial mark with a draw or a loss. If Fordham draws with Duquesne, it would need Dayton (14 pts) to lose or draw with Saint Louis and UMass (13 pts) to lose or draw at St. Bonaventure. If Fordham loses on Saturday, it would need both Dayton and UMass to lose as well to earn a top-four seed. Fordham owns a head-to-head tie breaker with Dayton by virtue of a 4-2 road win on Oct. 12, but UMass owns the tiebreaker over Fordham thanks to a 3-2 victory on Sept. 28 at Moglia Stadium. In the event that Fordham and Dayton lose and UMass draws with St. Bonaventure leaving all three teams with 14 points, UMass would win the three-team tiebreaker thanks to its results against the Rams and Flyers.
Fordham enters its regular season finale on the heels of a convincing Senior Night victory over Loyola Chicago this past weekend in the Bronx, scoring five goals for the first time since 2021 in a 5-1 victory over the Ramblers. The Rams' junior class led the way on Senior Night, as Andre Insalaco recorded two goals and an assist, Bennett Leitner finished with a goal and two assists, and Daniel D'Ippolito scored his team-leading 10th goal of the campaign. D'Ippolito became the first Fordham player in more than 20 years to reach double figures in the scoring column, as Brian Borrhello (11) was the last Ram to accomplish the feat in 2002.
Also the team leader in assists with six, D'Ippolito leads the Atlantic 10 and ranks eighth nationally with 26 points. He is one of only 26 players in the country this year to have found the back of the net at least 10 times.
Graduate student Lukas Hackaa also found the back of the net against Loyola Chicago. The 2023 Horizon League Player of the Year at IUPUI has now scored three goals in his last two A-10 games, having recorded a brace against George Washington on Oct. 19.
Duquesne gets set to welcome the Rams following a 1-0 road loss to UMass last Saturday. The teams remained level for more than 87 minutes before Alec Hughes netted his league-leading 12th goal of the year for the Minutemen.
Ranked 23rd in last week's United Soccer Coaches poll before falling out as a result of the UMass loss, Duquesne has won a program-record 11 straight home matches dating back to last season.
The Dukes are led offensively by senior forward Maxi Hopfer, who paces the team in both goals (7) and assists (4).
Senior Zoltan Hagy has started all 15 games between the pipes this season for Duquesne, turning in a 0.90 goals against average to go along with a .829 save percentage that ranks fifth in all of Division I.
