Princeton, N.J. – The Fordham water polo team opened play at the Princeton Invitational on a positive note, defeating Santa Clara, 12-9, on Saturday night.
 
With the win, the Rams improve to 4-1 on the young season.
 
Sophomore Dimitris Koukias led the Fordham offense with four goals while senior Jake Miller Tolt added three tallies to go with five assists. Senior Joseph Agabs and junior Phillip Wang each scored twice, with Wang adding two assists, and senior Oscar Nomura provided the other Fordham goal.
 
The match was tied at three after one quarter but goals from Wang and Agabs 40 seconds apart in the second gave the Rams a 5-3 lead before Santa Clara scored late to cut the Fordham lead to one at the break.
 
Fordham led by one, 6-5, early in the third quarter but netted four unanswered goals, two from Miller-Tolt, to take a 10-6 lead after three.
 
An Agabs tally with 5:35 left bumped the Fordham lead to five, 11-6, and the Rams held on for the win.
 
Sophomore Bailey O'Mara made eight saves in net for the Rams.
 
The Rams close out play at the Princeton Invitational on Sunday with games against #17 St. Francis (NY) at 9:15 a.m. and #12 Harvard at 1:00 p.m.