BRONX, N.Y. – Trailing 2-0 at the intermission of its annual rivalry match against Manhattan, the No. 18 Fordham men's soccer team scored twice in the second half to secure a 2-2 draw on Monday night at Moglia Stadium.
With the tie, Fordham moves to 3-2-2 entering Atlantic 10 play.
Jed Dixon and Luke Pompliano tallied the Rams' goals while Daniel D'Ippolito, Andre Insalaco and Louis Lehr recorded assists for the home side.
Sophomore goalkeeper Leo Perelman made his debut in net for Fordham, making two saves.
Junior defender Owen Hardy made his first career start for the Rams, playing the full 90 minutes on the back line.
Manhattan (2-3-1) opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Ziv Dahan flicked home a cross from Tony Yeboah. Just over 20 minutes later, Jason Araujo drew a pair of Fordham defenders before playing a pass down the right side for Sebastiano Musu. Musu sent it into the middle of the field for Ronan O'Brien, who beat the keeper to give Manhattan a two-goal edge heading into the locker room.
After the intermission, Fordham came out on the front foot, getting on the board in the 51st minute. The sequence began with D'Ippolito playing a long ball into the box that Insalaco headed out to the left side toward Lehr. The graduate student headed the ball down into the six where it found the foot of Dixon, who chipped it in past the keeper for his second collegiate goal.
Fordham continued to press before pulling even in the 65th minute. Standing on the opposite side of midfield, Benji Jones sent a long ball down the left sideline for D'Ippolito, who possessed and spun around his defender before crossing it into the box for Pompliano. The graduate transfer from Villanova slid and connected to push the ball past the charging Jasper keeper and level the score at two.
Each side recorded a pair of shots in the closing minutes of the contest, but neither managed to break the deadlock.
On the game, Fordham outshot Manhattan, 10-8, including a 7-3 edge in the second half.
Monday's match possessed all the intensity of a rivalry game, as the teams combined for 40 fouls and 10 yellow cards.
With the result, Fordham is now unbeaten in its last 11 home matches (7-0-4) dating back to the start of last season.
The Rams will return to action on Saturday when they travel to St. Bonaventure for a 6 p.m. showdown with the Bonnies. The game will be the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.
