Oct. 25, 2011
Photo Gallery 
New Rochelle, N.Y. -
The Fordham water polo team made the short trek up to New Rochelle on Tuesday for their local CWPA battle with the Iona College Gaels. The Rams gave the Gaels all they could handle with the score tied at eight with three minutes to play. Unfortunately for the Fordham fans in attendance, Iona scored twice in the final three minutes to post a 10-9 victory over the Rams.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 6-19 overall, 2-3 in the CWPA Northern Division.
Both teams got out to a sluggish start as neither squad found the net in the first quarter, but the second quarter was a different story, as the Gales netted five markers to Fordham's two to take a 5-2 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was all Fordham as the Rams shut down the Gaels offensively, while getting goals from Ben Clinkinbeard, Jake Bakas and Robert Fleming, to tie the game at five.
In the decisive fourth quarter, Fleming netted his second goal of the game to give Fordham their first lead of the game with 6:10 remaining. After Iona knotted the game at six, the Rams went back ahead, 7-6, with a man-up goal by Josh Itano with one second left in the penalty.
The Gaels netted the next two goals, but the seesaw affair was tied yet again with 2:52 left, when Nicholas Allen scored for Fordham to make it eight all.
Iona regained the lead on Jake Lloyd's second goal of the game, and extended the lead to two goals on Cam Hudson's fifth goal of the game. The Rams closed back within one, 10-9 on Clinkinbeard's second goal with just 46 seconds left. After a Fordham exclusion put the Rams down a man, Iona had a chance to regain their two-goal lead, but Fordham goalkeeper Christian Flessner came up with three saves on the man-up advantage to give Fordham one last chance to tie.
In that final chance, it was Allen who tried to skip a shot past the Iona keeper, but the ball bounce over the goal, allowing Iona to run out the clock for the win.
For Fordham, Clinkinbeard had two goals and three assists, while Andrew McKernin had two goals, two assists and three steals. Fleming also added two goal and four steals Bakas, Allen, and Itano rounding out the Fordham scoring. In net, Noah LeBeau played the first and third quarters, posting nine saves without allowing a goal, while Flessner had six saves and two steals in his two quarters of play.
The Rams will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, when Fordham travels to Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut for a 2:00 PM match.
