Oct. 17, 2009
Cambridge, Mass. -
The Fordham water polo team continued their stellar play this week winning a pair of matches against Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday to improve to 4-1 in conference play, and 11-12 overall. The win sets up a final regular season showdown with Iona on October 28th with the winner getting at least share of the CWPA Northern Division regular season title.
In the opening match of the day, Ali Arat scored four goals, while Ryan Hultman added three, as the Rams topped Harvard for the third time this season, 12-7.
Harvard scored the first goal of the game and took the early lead, but Hultman quickly answered with a Fordham goal to tie the score. Martin de Jong, Ali Arat and Jakob Muller scored later in the frame, giving Fordham a 4-3 lead after one quarter.
Fordham kept that one goal advantage throughout the second quarter, leading 7-6 at the half. Daniel Munoz, deJong and Arat found the back of the net in the quarter.
In the second half, the Fordham defense got it together, holding the Harvard offense to only one goal in the final two periods.
Hultman scored twice in the third quarter along with Arat getting one to give Fordham a 10-6 lead after three.
Arat and Andrew Dentinger closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter, as the Rams won the game by five.
In net, Christian Flessner made eight saves for Fordham.
In match two on Saturday, Hultman netted three goals as the Rams hung on for a 7-6 win over MIT.
MIT came out with a great deal of energy against Fordham in the opening frame, as only two goals were scored, leaving the score 1-1, as Hultman scored for the Rams.
The Rams then got the offense going in the second quarter with four tallies. Tim Simo, Hultman, Muller and Arat each scored for the Rams, leaving Fordham ahead, 5-4 at the half.
After the teams traded goals in the third quarter, de Jong scored making it 7-5 contest. MITtried to come back, scoring their sixth goal, but the Rams held strong on a Flessner block with twenty seconds in the game to seal the 7-6 win.
In net, Flessner had ten stops.
The Fordham water polo team will now have their regular season finale on Wednesday, October 28th at home against Iona College, beginning at 7:30 PM, with the winner earning a share of the CWPA Northern Division regular season title with Brown.
