Water Polo Splits Season-Opening Matches at Navy Open

The Fordham Water Polo team kicked off its 2015 campaign by splitting the first two matches of Saturday's Navy Open. First, against the hosts, the Rams dropped a close 9-6 contest, before rebounding with a 14-8 victory over Gannon University.
 
"These guys played hard," Head Coach Bill Harris said after the loss to Navy, "We had a lot of opportunities with exclusion goals but we couldn't convert them. That was the story of the game."
 
The Midshipmen took a 2-0 lead through one quarter thanks to a pair of goals from Robert Sutherland and would hold onto their lead throughout the contest.
 
Senior captain Bobby Wurtz tallied Fordham's first goal of the season to cut the deficit to 3-1 less than two minutes into the second quarter and last year's leading scorer, junior R.J. Simmons, added his first of the year later in the frame. The hosts' lead would reach 7-2 early in the third before the Rams answered back with a 4-1 run over the next 10 minutes.  
 
Navy maintained its slim lead and closed out the contest to hand the Rams their first loss of the season.
 
Simmons paced his squad with two goals, while Patrick Reyes, Ethan Vanderventer, and Peter Bergum also added their first goals of the season. Sophomore Alex Jahns made his first career start in net and played the entire match.
 
Several hours later, Fordham took on the Gannon Knights, and, after a slow 2-1 first quarter, erupted for a 6-1 second quarter run to lead 7-2 halfway through the contest.
 
By the midpoint, seniors Andrew Gonzalez and Davis DeFontes each had their first goals of the season plus Reyes and Vanderventer added to their season tally with one apiece. Freshman Diego Delgado scored one in the second and two in the third to finish the day atop the team leaderboard in goals scored. Freshmen Magnus Sims, Ryan Guso (two), Ian Watson, and Cole Donnelly each added goals, plus graduate student Ethan Hallowell found the net in the fourth for his first of the season.   
 
Jahns started the contest in net, made four saves, and was replaced at halftime by senior Patrick Harrigan (two saves), who split the final two frames with sophomore Bryce Charles (three saves).
 
"We played well in the afternoon. We counter-attacked well. It gave us a chance to play our entire team." Harris said.
 
The Rams battle Johns Hopkins, ranked third in Division III, and Salem International tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively, in the final two matches of the Navy Open.