Water Polo to Finish Regular Season With Four Road Matches

The Fordham Men's Water Polo team (14-11, 3-5 CWPA) is heading to the northeast for four all-important Northern Division clashes to finish out the regular season slate. The Rams will first touch down in New London, Connecticut, for a Friday evening battle against Connecticut College at 8 p.m. On Saturday, Fordham will play both M.I.T. and #12 Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. The regular season finale will be at #12 Brown in Providence at 2 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams strung together their second four-game winning streak of the season starting with a sudden-death overtime victory at Iona to win their first Judge Cup, competed for annually between the two schools, since its inaugural year in 2012. Junior point-leader R.J. Simmons ended that game last Tuesday and the momentum carried over into the weekend when Fordham hosted four schools and played three, winning all of them by a combined 38-25. Sophomore Ethan Vandeventer had a career game against Salem International on Friday night with a career-best five goals and six points as the Rams took down the Tigers, 16-9. In the first game on Saturday, Fordham defeated George Washington in a close affair, 12-10, behind nine different scorers, none with more than two goals. Vandeventer added two more plus his second straight three-steal game. Senior Peter Bergum added a season-high five ejections drawn, which, combined with three against Mercyhurst in the following game, gives Bergum an impressive 152 for his career. Freshman Diego Delgado was a big part of the 10-6 win over Mercyhurst, the newly-minted Division II champions, with three goal and two assists for his first ever five-point performance. Sophomore keeper Alex Jahns saved 10 shots, his seventh such game this year. The winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night, during a Senior Night that saw nine seniors and one graduate student honored in a pregame ceremony, against recently nationally ranked St. Francis Brooklyn, 11-8, in which the Rams were leading at one point in the third but let it slip late to a thing yet talented Eastern European-laden squad. The Rams boasted yet another balanced scoring attack with all eight goals coming from a different player.
 
Connecticut College
2015 Record: 1-11, 0-5 CWPA North
What You Need To Know: The Camels scored their first and only victory of the season last weekend in the first match of the Division III Championship, a 12-8 defeat of Monmouth, however in the next game the opponent would be a team that consistently receives votes in the national top-20 ranking Johns Hopkins University. The Blue Jays dispatched with the Camels, 21-1. Connecticut College eventually settled for fourth place after a 11-9 loss to Washington. Stephan Cress is the lone Camel in double-digits with 15 goals but a couple aren't far behind. Isaih Porter leads the team with 12 assists, while Henry McMillan's 18 steals is tops. Daniel Albers is the man in net for the Camels and he has 91 saves on the season.
 
M.I.T.
2015 Record: 9-10, 3-6 CWPA North
What You Need To Know: The Engineers recently placed second in the Division III Championship, falling to Johns Hopkins in the final, 11-9, and after defeating Penn State-Behrend and Washington & Jefferson. MIT also recently faced Fordham's other three competitors this weekend, losing to both Harvard and Brown but defeating Connecticut College. This weekend, they'll play Fordham and St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday and Iona on Sunday.
 
#12 Harvard
2015 Record: 14-8, 6-3 CWPA North
What You Need To Know: The Crimson are on a five-game winning streak since losing to Brown in the Ivy Championship last weekend. Since, they've travelled to southern California and racked up wins against San Jose State, #16 Santa Clara, Fresno Pacific, #12 Air Force, and #10 UC Davis in impressive fashion. Harvard's leading scorer is senior Noah Harrison with 50 goals. Harrison is also second on the team with 32 assists and is, by far, the team leading in steals with 40. Senior Ben Zepfel adds 40 goals and junior Joey Colton has provided 35. The Crimson have had a timeshare in net between senior Colin Woolway (72 saves) and freshman Anthony Ridgley (108 saves).
 
#12 Brown
2015 Record: 17-6, 8-0 CWPA North
What You Need To Know: The Bears have yet to lose a CWPA Northern Division contest. After a fantastic 10-match unbeaten run, the Bears dropped their first three contests at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational last weekend, all against ranked opponents. Brown defeated Fresno Pacific and Air Force to bounce back on Sunday. Junior Yahel Murvitz paces the team with 32 goals and is second-best on the team with an identical 32 assists. Junior Luke Weisser predominantly starts in goal and has racked up 149 saves on the season and allowed just 129 goals.
 
Up Next
The regular season ends after the Brown game on Sunday afternoon. The following weekend, Fordham will participate in the CWPA Northern Division Championship with a chance to go on to Nationals two weeks later. More information will be known closer to next weekend.