Fordham University goalie
Noah LeBeau made 14 saves to claim Player of the Game honors as the Rams held off Washington & Jefferson, 9-7, to earn a spot in the ninth place game at the 2014 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship at the United States Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall.
The Rams, who are making only their fourth appearance at the league championship tournament since 1987 with Fifth (2009) and Eighth (2010) place marks in eight-team fields and an 11th place finish out of 12 teams (2013), needed almost every minute of its contest against the Presidents to come out the winner.
The teams exchanged shots in the first quarter as Kevin Dunigan put the Presidents out in front at 1-0 by converting on a six-on-five chance at 6:55 for a 1-0 lead. The scoring advantage lasted for eight seconds until
Patrick Reyes beat Washington & Jefferson goalie Chris DeNunzio at 6:41 for an unassisted even-strength strike to knot the score at a marker apiece.
Washington & Jefferson regained the lead at 3:41 as Patrick Fredrick put away an unassisted shot, but the Rams' jammed in an unassisted tally by
R.J. Simmons on a power play at 3:10 to once again pull even at two-all.
For the third time in the quarter, the Presidents and Rams exchanged scoring jabs as Conor Crowe finished a feed from Josh Emde at 2:50 to place W&J back into the lead at 3-2, but
Bobby Wurtz whitewashed the margin with 52 seconds left on the first quarter clock by whirling in an unassisted shot to balance the scoreboard at three-all after a quarter of action.
Wurtz's goal would prove important not only for tying the game, but for starting the run that would place Fordham into the lead for good.
Following the quarter break and one minute of competition, Wurtz whipped a helper to
Ethan Vandeventer to put Fordham into the lead for the first time at 4-3 with seven minutes left until halftime. Simmons inflated the margin to 5-3 at 6:14 as
Andrew Gonzalez found him churning in front of the cage for a point blank blast to convert on another man-up chance.
The lead would swing from two-to-one-to-two-to-one over the remainder of the first half as LeBeau found a streaking
Patrick Lenihan at 1:25 to make it 6-4 in favor of the Rams before Crowe canned an assist from Mike Magdic with 44 seconds on the clock to shrink the lead back to one at 6-5.
Fordham's
Peter Bergum and W&J's Fredrick exchanged man-up and even-strength scores with 22 and one second, respectively, on the clock to make it 7-6 at halftime.
The game would remain a one-score affair until 46 seconds into the third quarter when Gonzalez ripped in an unassisted marker at the 7:14 mark to return a two-goal lead to the Rams at 8-6.
Neither team would find the back of the cage again to the 2:39 mark of the quarter when Carl Krause fired a frozen-rope into the cage to convert on a man-up chance to once again move the Presidents within striking distance at 8-7 entering the fourth quarter.
Both teams struggled to put the biscuit in the basket for the majority of the fourth quarter as the LeBeau and DeNunzio combined to make six saves in the quarter. LeBeau was stellar in turning aside four point blank shots, while DeNunzio swatted aside a pair of shots.
Following 7:36 of scoreless water polo in the fourth quarter, and a goal drought dating back 10:15 to the 2:39 mark of the third quarter, the Rams received a tally from the hand of Gonzalez off a pass from Simmons.
Overall, LeBeau was the story of the game as the senior stonewalled Washington & Jefferson, Â stopping 14 of 21 shots he faced and factored on both ends of the tank by netting an assist to go along with his defensive performance.
Gonzalez and Simmons led the way on offense for the Rams as the duo each posted two goals and an assist. Reyes, Vandeventer, Lenihan and Bergum all added single goals, with Wurtz contributing a goal and an assist, as Fordham improved to 15-18 on the season.
The Rams will conclude play at the CWPA Championship in the ninth place game against MIT at 10:20 AM.
