Sept. 12, 2009
Princeton, N.J. -
The Fordham University water polo squad opened play at the 2009 Princeton Invitational on Saturday shorthanded as four starters were out due to illness. But that didn't stop the Rams from competing as a young Fordham lineup fell to 16th-ranked Santa Clara, 13-8, in its first game before defeating George Washington, 10-9, in overtime, in the second.
"It was a good day for us, especially since we were without the four starters," said head coach Bill Harris. "I was happy that the young players got involved and did a good job against some quality competition, including a nationally ranked team."
In the first game, the Rams gave the nationally ranked Broncos all they could handle. Fordham trailed 10-2 at the half, but outscored Santa Clara 3-1 in the third quarter to make it an 11-5 game before coming up short in the 13-8 loss.
Daniel Muñoz led the Fordham offense, scoring three times while Mikey Edwards and Ali Arat each scored twice. Daniel Barron added the other goal for the Rams while Christian Flessner made five saves in goal and Martin de Jong contributed two steals.
In the George Washington contest, a Jakob Muller goal with one second left knotted the game at nine, sending it to overtime where Muñoz scored in the first overtime to lead the Rams to the win.
Muller led the Fordham offense with three goals while Muñoz and Arat each finished with two. Other goal scorers for the Rams were Tim Simo, J.D. Shrewsbury and Mark Connor. Flessner made nine saves in goal as well as adding an assist and a steal.
The Rams will continue play at the 2009 Princeton Invitational with two games on Sunday. Fordham will take on Harvard at 2:15 p.m. and Johns Hopkins at 6:00 p.m.
