PITTSBURGH – The Fordham men's soccer team closed out the 2024 regular season with a 1-1 draw against Duquesne at Rooney Field on Saturday night.
With the result, Fordham finishes the regular season with a record of 7-4-5 and a 4-1-3 mark in Atlantic 10 play. The Rams have earned the no. 5 seed in next week's Atlantic 10 Championship and will open the tournament with a rematch against fourth-seeded Duquesne at Rooney Field on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m.
Fordham, which will make an Atlantic 10 Tournament appearance for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons, led for a majority of the contest. Luke Pompliano scored his third goal of the season in the 36th minute off an assist from Daniel D'Ippolito, but the Duquesne pulled even in the 80th minute.
D'Ippolito's assist was his seventh of the season, a total that is tied for the most by a Fordham player since Janos Loebe dished out 11 in 2018.
On the game, shots were 15-13 in favor of the Rams. Fordham placed five shots on target to the Dukes' two. Alex Dolce played the entire game in goal and made his first start of the season. Fordham remained undefeated (1-0-2) in matches that Dolce has started over the past two years.
The Rams opened the scoring in the later stages of the first half thanks to a brilliant connection between D'Ippolito and Pompliano. D'Ippolito took a pass from Emile Kisse down the left side of the box before dancing his way into space and sending a perfectly placed cross to the head of Pompliano, who buried the chance and gave Fordham the lead.
After more than 40 minutes of back-and-forth action with the Rams in front, Duquesne broke through on a goal from Christoffer Vie Angell. Maxi Hopfer sent a corner kick into the box that took a bounce before finding the chest of Vie Angell, who played it down before beating Dolce to the far side.
Fordham, which due to earlier results around the league was in need of a win to secure a top-four finish and a home quarterfinal match, unleashed a furious flurry in the final four minutes, but failed to net the go-ahead goal. During that span, Fordham took four shots, two of which were saved by Duquesne defenders. The Rams also earned four corner kicks in the final four minutes.
