After a pair of wins on Saturday, the Fordham water polo team had a quick turnaround to finish the regular season on Sunday with two matches against nationally ranked Harvard and Brown Universities.
Harvard topped the Rams, 11-7, in the morning session, while it took overtime to decide the Brown-Fordham affair with the Bears taking the game, 10-8.
With the losses, Fordham ends the regular season at 13-15 overall, 4-8 in the CWPA Northern Division.
In the opening game, the Rams fell to #19 Harvard by an 11-7 count.
Fordham led 3-2 in the first quarter after goals by
Andrew Gonzalez,
Ethan Vandeventer, and
Bobby Wurtz, but a late tally by the Crimson left the score tied at three after one period.
Harvard then started the second quarter with four straight goals to take control of the match, 7-3. A couple of extra-man goals by the Rams pulled Fordham within two at 7-5, but the Crimson scored with 26 seconds left to regain a three-goal edge.
Harvard added two more goals in the third and one in the fourth to finish with the 11-7 final score.
For Fordham, Gonzalez had two goals and an assist, while
R.J. Simmons had a goal, three assists, and four steals. Vandeventer had a goal and two steals, with Wurtz,
Landon Kern, and
Eric Minowitz rounding out the scoring with a goal each. In net,
Noah LeBeau had eight saves, including a penalty block.
Noah LeBeau had 16 saves in his final home match. In the afternoon session, Fordham's senior duo of Minowitz and LeBeau, who were honored before the match, did everything they could to lead the Rams to an upset over 13
th-ranked Brown, but the Rams fell short, 10-8, in overtime.
Behind two extra-man goals, Fordham led the Bears, 3-1, after the first quarter. In the second, Fordham used the same formula to build the lead to 5-2, as Gonzalez and Minowitz both scored extra-man goals.
Brown fought back with the first two goals of the third quarter, but Minowitz responded with goals on consecutive possessions to finish the period with Fordham ahead, 7-4.
Fordham remained ahead by three with four minutes left, but the Bears scored on three straight possessions to knot the game at seven all with two minutes to go in regulation. Neither team was able to find the back of the net putting the game into overtime.
In overtime, Brown scored twice in the first three-minute session, while Gonzalez scored for Fordham to make it a 9-8 game in favor of the Bears. Brown would add an empty net goal right at the end of the second session for the 10-8 final.
For Fordham, Minowitz tied a career-high with four goals to go with two steals, while Gonzalez had two goals and two assists. Simmons ended the match with two goals and an assist with
Davis DeFontes having two assists and four steals. In goal, LeBeau tied a season-high with 16 saves and two steals.
The Rams will be the fifth seed at next week's Northern Division Championship, held at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fordham will take on #4 seed Iona at 9:30 AM.
