Oct. 26, 2008
Bronx, N.Y. -
It was an early morning for the Fordham water polo squad as they met up at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center at 9:00 a.m. for their first match of the day but it proved to be a fruitful day for the Rams who defeated Salem International and Gannon. With the wins, Fordham improves to 12-9 on the season.
In the first game of the day, the Rams upended Salem International, 9-2, behind a pair of goals from Ryan Hultman, J.D. Shrewsbury and Brian Jucas.
The Rams scored early and often in the game, taking a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. Ian Pruitt put Fordham on the board 34 seconds into the game and a minute later, Jucas made it a 2-0 game. Another Fordham tally with 4:49 left in the first made it a 3-0 game and Jucas followed with his second goal of the period to give the Rams a 4-0 lead. A Shrewsbury tally with just over three minutes left in the first put the Rams up 5-0.
Salem International cut the deficit to four, 5-1, with a second quarter score before the Rams scored two unanswered goals, both from Hultman, in the third to take a commanding 7-1 lead.
Fourth quarter goals by Shrewsbury and Todd Conway boosted the Fordham lead to 9-1 before Salem International closed out the scoring in the final minute.
Christian Flessner made four saves for the Rams while Shrewsbury added three steals to go with his two goals and Pruitt added a team-high four steals.
In the second game of the day, the Rams defeated Gannon University, 13-10, led by three goals from Alex Powell and nine saves from Timmy Will.
Fordham jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Scott Nemecek and Andrew Dentinger in the first two minutes before a Gannon score cut the Rams' lead in half. An extra-man goal by Daniel Muñoz with 1:22 remaining in the period increased the Fordham lead back to two, 3-1.
The ball found the net ten times in the second quarter, with Gannon outscoring Fordham, 6-4, in the period to knot the game at seven at the half. Powell netted the first goal a minute into the period for the Rams to make it a 4-1 game before Gannon answered two minutes later to make it a two-goal game, 4-2. Powell's second tally of the quarter bumped Fordham's lead back to three, 5-2, midway through the period before Gannon answered with two straight to make it a one-goal game, 5-4, with three minutes left.
A Nemecek goal made it a 6-4 game with just under two minutes remaining but two Gannon goals over the next minute tied the game at six. The two teams then traded goals over the final 28 seconds, with the Fordham goal provided by Powell, to go into the break tied at seven.
Gannon took its first and only lead of the game 2:27 in to the third quarter before the Fordham offense responded with five straight goals to take a 12-8 lead after three quarters. Andrew McKernin got the rally started with 4:18 left and 33 seconds later Jakob Muller put the Rams ahead for good, 9-8. McKernin scored his second of the quarter with 2:40 remaining and Conway and Muller closed out the third period barrage with tallies in the final 1:24.
A Shrewsbury goal 30 seconds into the fourth gave the Rams a 13-8 lead before Gannon closed out the scoring with two goals in the final 3:30.
Luke Forand finished with four assists for the Rams while Dentinger assisted on two goals and Conway and Muñoz each added two steals.
The Rams will next be in action on Thursday night, October 30th, as they host Iona College in the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center at 7:30 p.m.
