The Fordham University men’s soccer team saw its Atlantic 10 campaign come to an end last Wednesday at Baujan Field in Dayton, Ohio, when they lost to the second-seeded University of Dayton Flyers 2-0.
It only took Dayton five minutes to take the lead when graduate defender Hjalti Sigurdsson headed home an inswinging corner from sophomore midfielder Martin Bakken. Graduate defender Thomas Gray nearly equalized for the Rams shortly after, but the crossbar denied his header to keep the Flyers ahead. The hosts added a cushion to their lead in the 69th minute with a long-range strike from senior forward Ethan Sassine that beat graduate goalkeeper Carter Abbott.
Fordham was outshot 30-13 on the night, with the junior and A-10 Midfielder of the Year Daniel D’Ippolito leading the way for the Rams with five attempts. If it’s any consolation to the Rams, their defeat came at the hands of the eventual conference champions, Dayton, who defeated Saint Louis University 3-0 to lift the A-10 trophy.
This season marked the eighth time in 11 years that Fordham reached at least the semifinals of the A-10 tournament. Despite the loss, the Rams were selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament after earning an 8-5-5 record against the seventh-most challenging schedule in the country. The Rams’ birth in the NCAA tournament is the sixth time in program history, with their last appearance coming in 2021 following their A-10 championship victory.
The best campaign out of the six came in 2017 when Fordham reached the quarterfinal after victories against St. Francis College, the University of Virginia and Duke University.
The Rams will no doubt look to recreate that performance, but they will first have to start with a win against an inter-state Ivy. Fordham will play Cornell University on Thursday, Nov. 21, with the winner taking on the No. 2 University of Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, Nov. 24. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Ithaca, New York.
