Iona's Jake Lloyd scored three times in the third quarter to spark Iona College to a 10-8 win over the Fordham Rams in a CWPA Northern Division match-up on Wednesday. With the win, the Gaels received the Francis X. Judge Cup, given to the winner of the annual match-up.
The loss puts Fordham's record at 11-10 on the year, 3-5 in the Northern Division.
Looking to win the Judge Cup for the second straight year, the Rams started out with a 3-2 edge after the first quarter. Trailing 1-0,
Ori Raz got the Rams on the board at the 2:14 mark with
Andrew Gonzalez following with the Rams' second goal just 36 seconds later. The Gaels knotted the game at two, but Fordham closed the quarter with a
Davis DeFontes marker to lead, 3-2.
In the second quarter, the Gaels scored three times to bring the halftime score to 5-5. Then in the third quarter, Iona took charge with a four-goal outburst to lead, 9-6, heading into the final frame. Iona's Jake Lloyd scored three of the Gaels four goals in the period.
In the fourth, neither team could find the back of the net until 2:42 left in the game, when
R.J. Simmons scored an extra-man goal for the Rams to pull Fordham within two, 9-7. However, Iona scored with 1:11 left to put the game out of reach.
For Fordham, Raz led the way, netting three goals, two steals, and an assist, while
Nicholas Allen had two goals and an assist. DeFontes finished with a goal and three steals with Simmons and Gonzalez rounding out the scoring with a goal each. In net,
Noah LeBeau had eight saves to go with an assist and a steal.
The Fordham water polo team will be back in action on Saturday, October 26
th, when the Rams travel to Princeton, N.J. for a pair of non-conference matches. Fordham will take on Princeton at 11:30 AM and then face off against George Washington at 3:30 PM.
