D’Ippolito’s Hat Trick Lifts Men’s Soccer to 4-0 Win Over Santa Clara

BRONX, N.Y. – Junior captain Daniel D'Ippolito became the first Fordham player in nearly a decade to record a hat trick, scoring three times in Thursday night's lopsided 4-0 win over visiting Santa Clara at Moglia Stadium.

D'Ippolito found the back of the net in the seventh, 23^rd and 69^th minutes, registering the program's first hat trick since Eric Ohlendorf on Nov. 10, 2016, in the Atlantic 10 Tournament against Duquesne.  D'Ippolito became the 19^th Fordham player in the 70-plus-year history of the program to score at least three times in one game and his performance marked the 31^st hat trick overall by a Fordham player since 1952.

Bennett Leitner, D'Ippolito's high school classmate, added the Rams' fourth goal of the evening, scoring in the 32^nd minute to blow the game open.  It was the first goal of his Fordham career, which saw him miss all of 2023 with injury.

Benji Jones and Louis Lehr logged assists for Fordham, which remained unbeaten on the season (3-0-1) and extended its home unbeaten streak to 10 games dating back to the start of 2023 (7-0-3).

Thursday's offensive outburst marked the Rams' highest single-game scoring output since a 5-0 win over Holy Cross on Sept. 14, 2019.

Carter Abbott and Alex Dolce combined for the team's second shutout of the season.  Each goalkeeper made one save on the evening, as Fordham outshot the Broncos by a 15-5 margin, including a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.

D'Ippolito opened the scoring in the seventh minute thanks to a red card issued to Santa Clara's Itamar Efrat for denying an obvious scoring chance in the box with a hand ball.  The junior stepped to the spot and buried his try into the lower-left corner of the cage, putting Fordham ahead 1-0.

Just over 15 minutes later, D'Ippolito struck again to put the Rams ahead by a pair.  On a Fordham corner kick, Jones played it short to the top left corner of the box for D'Ippolito, who blasted a right-footed strike past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn.

D'Ippolito began the series of events that led to the Rams' third goal, coming up with a slide tackle that dislodged possession from a Santa Clara player near midfield.  Lehr then picked up the loose ball and sent up the left side for Leitner, who took a step toward the middle of the field to shake his defender before blasting it into the upper-right 90.

Fordham added its final goal in the 69^th minute, as Leitner sent a cross from the right side into the box for D'Ippolito.  Ozburn was able to make the initial stop, but D'Ippolito buried the rebound to complete his hat trick.