The Fordham Water Polo team (10-9, 2-3 CWPA) is back on the road for a CWPA clash with Northern Division and crosstown rival St. Francis Brooklyn (7-4, 4-0 CWPA) on Wednesday evening, October 14. The contest is set to start at 7:30 p.m.
The match can be viewed live on
NEC Front Row.
The Rams are coming off a heartbreaking 12-11 overtime loss at home to Iona just days after the team's California trip that saw them play six games in three days. Four days after returning home, Fordham hosted the Gaels at the Francis Messmore Aquatic Center and the match yielded high-end drama in front of a raucous packed house.
It was a back-and-forth affair that began with Fordham senior co-captain
Bobby Wurtz tallying two quick goals on the team's first two shots of the contest but the Gaels were undeterred and fought back with a 4-1 second period advantage to hold a one-goal lead heading into the break.
Senior
Patrick Reyes dazzled with a no-look behind-the-back goal to give the Rams a brief 7-6 lead that Iona would answer. Wurtz found classmate
Andrew Gonzalez less than 10 seconds into the restart to again go up a goal but Iona would find a way to bring it to eight apiece heading into the final frame.
The Gaels scored within 40 seconds to send the travelling fans into a frenzy but Fordham's leading scorer, junior
R.J. Simmons, who had been held scoreless on four shots up until that point, found the net to knot things back up. Five tense minutes passed before Simmons, unassisted, throttled the net with a powerful effort and celebrated with an emotional fist pump.
The junior tallied his career-high seventh steal, also a team season-high, during a 5-on-5 play with 17 seconds to go to give the Rams a big advantage. However, Fordham was careless with the ball and turned it over, gifting the Gaels with possession in front of net and they did not waste their golden opportunity, moving the match to a 10-10 tie and two overtime periods.
Two scoreless minutes passed until both teams scored in the final minute. The Gaels scored with 53 seconds to play and the Rams received an unlikely, yet timely, goal from sophomore
Grant Keesling, whose score was just the fourth of his career. Fordham lost
Ethan Vandeventer to an exclusion with 40 seconds to play and Iona buried the game-winner just two seconds before he could return to play.
This week's lone opponent, the Terriers of St. Francis Brooklyn, have started off conference play hot with a road victory over Iona and home wins over a ranked Harvard team, MIT, and Connecticut College. All four wins have seen at least 12 goals scored by the Terriers.
Iona awaits the Rams, this time in New Rochelle, for the second leg of their season home-and-home next Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. Fordham will host the Terriers on Tuesday, October 27, in the second leg of their conference home-and-home schedule.
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