Oct. 27, 2010
Photo Gallery 
Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham University water polo seniors were honored in a pregame ceremony prior to the Iona match tonight as they were playing in their final home game. And the seniors responded in the pool, accounting for all of the Fordham goals, led by six from Ryan Hultman, as the Rams defeated the Gaels, 13-11, in the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center.
With the win, Fordham improves to 14-13 on the year while Iona falls to 5-17.
The Rams led the entire match but it was a typical Fordham-Iona match with plenty of whistles and an energetic crowd. Hultman got the Rams on the board with a goal a minute into the game and a minute and a half later, an Ali Arat tally was followed 20 seconds later by another Hultman goal as Fordham took a 3-0 lead with 4:13 left in the first. But goals by Kristian Bocage and Seth Tasman at the end of the period pulled Iona to within one, 3-2, at the end of period.
Fordham used goals by Daniel Muñoz and Arat in the first minute of the second quarter to build the lead back to three, 5-2, but a Cameron Hudson tally made it a two-goal game, 5-3, 25 seconds later.
The game went scoreless over the next three minutes before Arat and Hultman each scored to bump the lead to four, 7-3, with 3:12 left in the half.
The Gaels closed out the half with marks from Connor Bracken and Tasman to make it a 7-5 game at the break.
A Bocage goal 25 seconds into the second half made it a one goal game, 7-6, but
Victor Bautista Medina responded for the Rams a little over two minutes later to put the Rams up 8-6. An advantage goal from Tasman made it a one score game again with 5:03 left in the third but Arat, Hultman and
Jakob Muller scored over the final 2:51 of the period to put the Rams up 11-7 after three.
Hultman opened the scoring in the fourth to give Fordham its biggest lead of the night, 12-7, 1:13 into the quarter, before a pair of goals by Hudson cut the Iona deficit back to three, 12-9, with 5:00 remaining.
A Muñoz tally 26 seconds later bumped the Rams' lead back up to four, 13-9, and Iona could only manage a Tasman goal with 3:13 left and a tally from Hudson at the final buzzer for the 13-11 final.
Hultman added three assists to his six goals while Arat finished with three goals and Muñoz two. Christian Flessner recorded ten saves in net for Fordham.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, November 6th, as they open play at the Northern Division Championship in Cambridge, Mass.
