Water Polo Wins Ninth Place Match at CWPA Championship

Fordham goalkeeper Noah LeBeau made 12 saves in his final game as a Ram to claim Player of the Game honors as the Fordham Rams dispatched MIT, 9-8, to claim the ninth place at the 2014 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship at the United States Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall.
 
Making only their fourth appearance at the CWPA Championship since 1987, the Rams earned their third best finish during the stretch following Fifth (2009) and Eighth (2010) place finishes in the former eight-team format before placing 11th (2013) last season at Brown University.
 
The win was keyed by the performance of LeBeau down the stretch as the senior netminder stopped eight shots in the first half to allow his team to overcome some early struggles to build an 8-6 lead by halftime.
 
The Rams jumped on the scoreboard first in the game as Patrick Reyes cashed in on a pass down low from R.J. Simmons with 6:19 left in the first quarter.  Fordham and MIT then traded a slew of unassisted, even-strength strikes as Jack Clark tied the game at 5:19 and Andrew Gonzalez put the Rams back into the lead at 5:00 to make it 2-1.  Dylan Hallman and Ory Tasman erased Fordham's advantage as the duo dumped in shots at 4:42 and 4:18 to turn the tables and claim a 3-2 lead.
 
Gonzalez tied the game at 3:41 with a man-up tally, but Patrick Everett placed the Engineers back in front at 4-3 with 3:18 on the clock via a natural goal.
 
Fordham was able to pull even prior to the concluding horn of the frame as Eric Minowitz finished a feed from Gonzalez with 1:24 on the clock to place the teams in a tie at four-all after eight minutes of competition.
 
The Engineers' Kale Rogers rifled in a shot off a helper from Tasman at 7:29 to open the next frame and Hallman heaved in a haymaker at 4:52 to put MIT in front by a pair at 6-4.
 
However, Fordham found the comeback trail with a furious rally as Ori Raz finished a feed from Ethan Vandeventer at 4:27 and netted an unassisted score with a five-meter penalty shot at 3:08 to tie the game at six-all.
 
The Rams continued to pour on the offense as Simmons stroked in a six-on-five-shot off an assist from Raz at 1:21 to put Fordham back into the lead at 7-6.  Vandeventer finished out the first half's rally with a tally with 45 ticks on the clock for an 8-6 advantage at the break.
 
Fordham pushed the lead to 9-6 with 4:58 left in the third quarter as Simmons sliced in a man-up shot.
 
MIT attempted to climb back into the game as Tasman converted on back-to-back man-up chances in the fourth quarter at the 5:03 and 2:06 marks to close to within 9-8.
 
However, the Engineers were unable construct a play to get over the hump and tie the Rams to force overtime as LeBeau held off MIT's advances to preserve the one-goal win.
 
Gonzalez, Raz and Simmons both posted two goals and an assist for the Rams, while Vandeventer added a goal and an assist.  Reyes and Minowitz both buried goals to round out Fordham's scorers.
 
Tasman led MIT with three goals and an assist, while Hallman tacked on two goals.  Rogers, Everett and Clark all added goals as the Engineers nearly pulled off the upset.