Water Polo Dropped by St. Francis Brooklyn on Senior Night

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The last regular season home match of the 2015 season in the Bronx came down to a series of late possessions as #17 St. Francis Brooklyn's stout defense stepped up and held onto their slim margin over the Fordham Water Polo team, 10-8. With the win, the Terriers improve to 10-8 (6-0 CWPA Northern Division) on the season, while the Rams fall to 14-11 (3-5 CWPA Northern Division) overall.
 
"St. Francis Brooklyn is a tough team with very experienced players," head coach Bill Harris said after the match, "Bill Parcells said, 'Your record is your record'. Maybe we learned some things tonight. Our team has been steadily improving and we're getting good contributions from our bench. We have four tough conference matches this weekend and then Northerns."
 
With many parents, family, and friends in attendance, the Rams played with heart and tenacity throughout a match in which a lead never grew beyond two until the final seconds. Fordham got off to a perfect start when R.J. Simmons tossed a ball to senior Andrew Gonzalez on the near side of net and Gonzalez didn't waste his chance to put his team ahead by one within 17 seconds.
 
Bogdan Kostic's impressive falling-away effort towards the end of the shot clock over a minute later got the Terriers on the board. Kostic added another a minute later before Davis DeFontes netted on a man-up play after a smartly-taken time out with three minutes to play in the first period. On the very next offensive possession, Ethan Vandeventer, who had a terrific weekend with a career-high five goals against Salem International, found Simmons and the junior buried his chance to take a quick 3-2 lead.
 
The Terriers responded through Ilija Djuretic, the visitors' number 10 that scored five goals when these two teams last met two weeks ago, but senior Bobby Wurtz gave the Rams another one-goal lead with 16 seconds left, 4-3.
 
The second frame saw just one goal and many terrific defensive plays. Sophomore keeper Alex Jahns had just one save in the first period but tallied six in the second, keeping his team in the lead until a Terrier goal with just under a minute to play from Kostic. The two teams went into the break tied at four.
 
The third frame saw seven goals and the first two-goal lead, albeit briefly. St. Francis captain Liam Veazey scored his first and Cameron Shewchuck answered from a tight angle two minutes later. Graduate student Ethan Hallowell gave the Rams a 7-6 lead with his fourth goal of the season, off a long feed from Jahns, to thunderous applause from the home crowd but the lead with very short-lived. St. Francis Brooklyn scored 19 seconds later and again under a minute after that through Djuretic from long range. The lead was two for the first time in the match, 8-6.
 
25 seconds later and senior Patrick Lenihan throttled the net from right in front of goal, muscling off his defender, and cutting the deficit in half heading into the final period.
 
Barely into the fourth period, senior Patrick Reyes drew a penalty from Djuretic. Simmons stepped up but the ball slipped out of his hand and the scoreline remained the same. Tense minutes passed before Djuretic found some space up top and again, from nearly the same spot, scored his third to make up for his foul three minutes earlier. With the fans cheering on the home side, the Rams were able to get Kostic excluded and found the net just a second after the Terriers resumed equal numbers through Reyes, 9-8.
 
Fordham came close on a couple of occasions over the next minute but Djuretic's fourth and fifth, the latter coming with an open net and a second remaining, pushed the final score to 11-8.
 
Nine Fordham seniors and one graduate student were honored in a pregame ceremony: co-captains Davis DeFontes and Bobby Wurtz, Andrew Gonzalez, Patrick Reyes, Patrick Lenihan, Landon Kern, Mike Hay, Peter Bergum, and Ethan Hallowell.
 
"It's bittersweet sending off nine guys I've had the pleasure of coaching for four years, plus Ethan [Hallowell]. They've all had terrific careers and [Asst. coach] Brian [Bacharach] and I wish them nothing but the best in the future," Harris remarked, "They deserved the recognition that they received tonight."
 
The Rams are on the road for four games in the northeast, starting on Friday night at Connecticut College at 7 p.m. After that, Fordham sees M.I.T. and Harvard on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass. before a Sunday afternoon clash at ranked Brown at 2 p.m.