After going 4-0-3 on the season across seven games, the Fordham men’s soccer team suffered their first defeat at the hands of the Saint Louis University Billikens on Saturday.
The Rams were coming into a tough match against Saint Louis, who took home the Atlantic 10 Championship last season. Fans flocked to Hermann Stadium for the highly anticipated matchup, with a total attendance of 6,457, the second-largest attendance in Hermann Stadium history.
The Rams now sit seventh in the A-10 standings with their first conference loss as well.
It was homecoming night for the Billikens as they hosted the Rams, and things got underway quickly with a penalty kick goal for Saint Louis in the 19th minute.
Things kept quiet through the end of the first half. However, some Rams were quickly getting the attention of referee Matthew Geringer in a not-so-good way.
Graduate student Louis Lehr picked up his first yellow in the seventh minute of the game, and would later get into serious trouble for the Rams.
Opening up the second half, the Rams were able to find the equalizer as sophomore Daniel D’Ippolito acquired his third goal of the season. He sits third overall on the team in points (nine) behind teammates senior Florian Deletioglu and graduate student Timo Hummrich. Deletioglu racked up an assist on the equalizer as well.
Disaster struck for the Rams as the yellow card Lehr picked up early in the match came back to haunt them. Lehr was issued a red card after his second yellow card in the 66th minute and sent off the field.
Fordham, now playing with 10 men, tried to hold off the Billikens, but conceded the winning goal to CJ Coppola.
Taking a shot from close range, Coppola’s attempt deflected off a Fordham defender and into the back of the net, past graduate student goalkeeper Carter Abbott.
The Rams had two more attempts to try and equalize.
Deletioglu headed off a cross from Grady Kozak that narrowly missed the far post in the 85th minute.
With only 10 seconds remaining in regulation, graduate student Sigfus Arnason shot a rocket to the lower-left corner of the Saint Louis goal, but Jeremi Abonnel was there in time to shut down Arnason.
It will be another quiet week for the Rams as they only have one match. Fordham resumes play on Saturday against Davidson College at Moglia Stadium at Jack Coffey Field. Game time is 7 p.m. on both ESPN+ and MSG Network.
