Nov. 7, 2009
Cambridge, Mass. -
Going into the Northern Division Championship, the Fordham water polo team had plenty of momentum having won their last four games, while having their best seeding in close to 25 years. The second-seeded Rams put that momentum to good use, defeating both Connecticut College and Iona to advance to the CWPA Northern Division Championship game against Brown on Sunday.
The Rams opened the day with an overwhelming effort in a 22-2 victory over Connecticut College. The 22 goals was a season-high for the Rams, while the two allowed was a season-low.
In all, Fordham had ten different goal scorers in the game, led by J.D. Shrewsbury and Mikey Edwards with four goals apiece. Jake Bakas and Tim Simo added three goals each with Martin de Jong and Cashel Barnett both having a pair of goals. Ali Arat, Daniel Barron, Ryan Hultman, and Andrew McKernin rounded out the Rams' scoring.
In addition to advancing to the CWPA semifinals, the win also clinched a berth for Fordham at the 2009 Eastern Championships for the first time in over 20 years.
In the semifinals, Iona jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, but behind an excellent defensive effort and six unanswered goals, the Rams topped Iona, 7-4, to advance to the CWPA Northern Division Championship game.
"I am very proud of how the team played today," said head coach Bill Harris. "Iona came out strong in the first quarter, but the team played great defense, and kept chipping away, and pulled out the win."
Behind 4-1 entering the second quarter, the Rams scored three times on tallies by McKernin, Jakob Muller, and Arat to knot the game at four, going into halftime.
The Rams continued to keep Iona off the scoresheet in the third quarter, as Fordham took a 6-4 lead on goals by Edwards and Daniel Muñoz.
In the fourth, Fordham completed their victory with Andrew Dentinger's second goal of the game, as the Rams won by a final count of 7-4. In net, Christian Flessner, made six saves to go with a couple of steals.
The Fordham water polo team will now play for the CWPA Northern Division Championship at noon on Sunday, November 8th, against top seeded Brown University.
