Princeton, N.J. – The Fordham water polo squad continued its early season success with a thrilling 19-14 win over 17th-ranked St. Francis College on Sunday morning at the Princeton Invitational. Later in the day, the Rams gave Harvard all it could handle before falling to the 12th-ranked Crimson, 11-8.
 
In the St. Francis win, senior Jake Miller-Tolt was an offensive force, scoring nine goals and adding four assists to lead the Rams while sophomore Dimitris Koukias had five tallies. Sophomore Bailey O'Mara was solid in net, recording 16 saves and recording two steals.
 
The Rams jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first quarter, two of those goals coming from Miler-Tolt, and extended the lead to 10-6 at the half as Miller-Tolt and Koukias each scored in the final 1:36 of the half.
 
St. Francis netted the first four goals of the third quarter to tie the match at ten but the Rams responded with four unanswered tallies, two each from Miller-Tolt and senior Joseph Agabs to take a 14-10 lead.
 
The Rams lead by three at the end of the third, 15-12, and doubled that by outscoring the Terriers 4-1 over the first 4:30 of the fourth quarter to take a commanding 19-13 lead.
 
In the Harvard game, Koukias paced the Rams with five goals while Agabs added two and Miller-Tolt one.
 
The Rams trailed 3-1 at the end of the first quarter, and 6-3 at the half. However, Fordham outscored Harvard 3-1 in the third quarter to make it a 7-6 game in favor of the Crimson. But the Rams would get no closer as Harvard outscored the Rams 4-2 over the final eight minutes.
 
The Rams return to action on Saturday, September 22, as they compete in the Bison Invitational at Bucknell University. Fordham will open the tournament against Bucknell on September 21 at 1:00 p.m. and then play Salem International at 6:00 p.m.