BRONX – After securing their sixth consecutive berth in the Atlantic 10 Championship, the Fordham University men will continue another run at a league title.
Fifth-seeded Fordham (7-10-2, 5-2-1) will play in tts fifth championship semifinal in the last six years when it takes on the top-seeded University of Rhode Island at Jack Coffey Field Friday at 1 p.m.
In the other semifinal, the University of Dayton meets Virginia Commonwealth University at 4 p.m.
The final is set for Sunday at noon.
This is the first time that Fordham will play host to the Atlantic 10 men’s soccer championship, having hosted part of the women’s basketball championship (opening round), as well as cross country (once), softball (four times) and baseball (four times) championships.
Rhode Island (13-3-2, 7-1-0, which is receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll, enters the semifinals after a wild 7-3 quarterfinal win over Davidson College.
URI is led by Filippo Tamburini, who is the team’s top scorer with eight goals and four assists for 20 points. Stavros Zarokostas has seven goals and five assists with Edvin Akselsen adding three goals and 12 assists. Goalkeeper Stefan Schmidt has played every minute (1,693), recording a 1.01 goals-against average with five shutouts.
This is Fordham’s 12th appearance in the tournamentsince joining the league in 1995. The Rams have won the Atlantic 10 crown and the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division tournament three times, in 1996, 2014, and 2016.
This will be the 28th all-time meeting between Fordham and Rhode Island. URI extended its lead in the series to 16-9-2 earlier this year, defeating Fordham, 3-1, at the URI Soccer Complex in Kingston, R.I. Oct. 5. Fordham took a 1-0 lead on a fourth-minute goal by Johannes Pieles, but the hosts answered three times, which included a goal and two assists by Edvin Akselsen.
