BRONX, N.Y. – The Fordham men's soccer team will open the Atlantic 10 portion of its schedule on Saturday night when it travels to St. Bonaventure. The Rams and the Bonnies will kick off at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Rams (3-2-2) enter conference play on the heels of a 2-2 draw against Manhattan in the Battle of the Bronx on Monday night at Moglia Stadium. The Jaspers scored twice in the opening half to take an early lead before the Rams responded with two goals in the latter stanza to secure the result.
Jed Dixon and Luke Pompliano provided the goals in the Rams' most recent outing while Louis Lehr, Andre Insalaco and Daniel D'Ippolito added assists. D'Ippolito has been one of the league's most prolific offensive producers so far in 2024, finding the back of the net five times and adding two assists in the team's first seven games. A 2023 Second Team All-Atlantic 10 pick, D'Ippolito is tied for 13th in Division I in total goals while ranking 12th with 12 total points. In the Rams' latest win over Santa Clara on Sept. 5, D'Ippolito became the 19th player in Fordham history and the first since Eric Ohlendorf in 2016 to record a hat trick.
Sophomore Leo Perelman made his first career appearance in goal against the Jaspers, making two saves in 90 minutes of action. Monday marked the first game this season not started by graduate student goalkeeper Carter Abbott, who holds a 1.38 goals against average and .750 save percentage in six starts this fall. In his last outing on Sept. 13, Abbott logged a career-high 10 stops in a 2-1 loss to Marist.
Fordham is unbeaten in its last nine A-10 openers dating back to 2015 (6-0-3). Last season, the Rams opened conference play in authoritative fashion against the Bonnies, winning 3-0 at Moglia Stadium behind a brace from Florian Deletioglu.
Fordham is 15-5-2 all-time against the Bonnies and is riding a seven-match winning streak in the series that dates back to 2010. St. Bonaventure's last regular season win against the Rams came in 2002.
St. Bonaventure enters the match with a record of 2-4-1 on the year, including a 1-1 draw against Le Moyne on Wednesday night at home.
Senior forward Andres Javitt, who leads the team with two goals and two assists on the season, is riding a two-match point streak after recording an assist at Niagara and the team's lone goal against Le Moyne.
After taking on the Bonnies, the Rams will return to action in the Five Boroughs with a Tuesday night trip to Columbia.
