NEW YORK – The Columbia men's soccer team will be looking to add on to a four-match unbeaten streak when they head to Jack Coffey Field for a game with No. 25 Fordham on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Dylan Mott's first goal of the season was enough to help Columbia take home a victory over Monmouth last Friday night. The only goal of the match came in the 11th minute, when senior Francisco Agrest set up his classmate for the spinning score. Columbia stayed active throughout the half with Kynan Rocks and Avi Eller seeing their shots on goal saved, while Eller also hit the post on an attempt.
 
Defense was the star of the second half as the Lions defense held strong, only allowing two total shots with neither attempt coming on goal. Dylan Castanheira's save in the first half was enough to post his second shutout win of the season and 22nd of his career. He moves into second place on the all-time Columbia list.
 
SEASON AT A GLANCE 
After a 1-1 start with a loss to Kentucky and a win at No. 11 Butler during the first pair of matches, the Lions came back to draw Army on the road on Sept. 7, before a victory over Binghamton. The Lions then extended their unbeaten streak to four with the 1-0 win over Monmouth.
 
Junior John Denis earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors for his efforts in week one, scoring a goal in the win over the Bulldogs and adding an assist at Army. Rocks leads the team with three goals, all coming from a hat trick against Binghamton, while Markarian, Denis, and Agrest have one score each. In net, Castanheira has played every minute thus far, going 3-1-1 with 11 saves, 3 goals against, and a 0.56 goals against average.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Columbia holds strong in the series history, posting a 27-12-6 record against Fordham, who advanced to the Elite Eight in 2017. A season ago, Markarian scored the game-winner in the first half of a 1-0 defeat at home. Last time the two teams met in the Bronx, the Rams scored a game-winner with 10 seconds left in the second overtime, capping a 2-1 victory.
 
ABOUT THE RAMS
Fordham started the season with a three-game win streak, topping Holy cross (2-1), Wisconsin (1-0) and Northwestern (3-2), before putting up a pair of 1-1 draws against Bryant and Marist. On Tuesday at Manhattan, the Jaspers were successful on a corner kick with 36 seconds remaining, handing the 3-1-2 Rams its first loss of the season, 1-0.
 
Joergen Oland leads the team with three goals so far this season, while five other players have scored one goal each for the No. 25 ranked team in the country. Rashid Nuhu has started four games for the Rams and has a single clean sheet and a 2-0-2 record to his name. The other goalkeeper, Dan Miklos, has started one game and has a 1-0-0 record to his name.
 
UP NEXT
Columbia begins Ivy League play on the road at Brown on Saturday, Sept. 29.