NCAA Championship Bracket
Annapolis, Md. – (November 21, 2021) – Before today, the Fordham water polo program had only twice gotten a chance to claim the top spot in the East in 1973 and 1974, with those teams being led by Fordham Hall of Famers Ned Kelly and Kevin Sullivan. On Sunday, a young, confident group of Rams made sure that the third time was the charm, as Fordham defeated Navy, 9-6, to claim the 2021 MAWPC Championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.
This will be Fordham's first-ever NCAA appearance.
"Today was just incredibly rewarding for us," said head coach
Brian Bacharach. "This is a special group, who put in a total team effort and accomplished an amazing feat for our program. Today was fantastic with the support of our fans, family, and alumni that were here and being as loud or louder than the home crowd. Just so proud of everyone as a whole."
The Rams start to celebrate their epic win.
The match opened with Navy taking a 2-1 lead after the first quarter of play, but the Rams took charge in the second quarter, scoring three times, while holding Navy without a goal for a 4-2 lead.
Lucas Nieto Jasny tied the game at two with 3:41 left in the quarter, while
Gabriel Melillo put the Rams on top 3-2 with 1:28 remaining. Nieto Jasny then snuck in a late extra-man goal just before halftime for the two-goal lead.
After exchanging markers in the third quarter, the Rams extended the lead to three, 6-3, on
George Papanikolaou's third goal of the game, and then maintained that edge going into the final quarter up 7-4.
Navy closed the gap back to two at 7-5 early in the fourth, but back-to-back goals by
Jacopo Parrella and
Curtis Vidinoff extended the Rams' lead to four at 9-5, which they would not relinquish.
For Fordham, Papanikolaou led the way with three goals, while Nieto Jasny had two goals and two assists.
Hans Zdolsek, who was named tournament MVP, added a goal, two assists, and two blocks, while Vidinoff, Parrella, and Melillo had the remaining goals for Fordham. In net,
Thomas Lercari made nine saves to go with two steals, as he was named Rookie of the Tournament.
The Rams will now play at Princeton, the Northeast Water Polo Conference champion, in the opening round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday, November 27th. The time for that match is yet to be determined.
| 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship All-Tournament Team |
| Most Valuable Player: |
Hans Zdolsek (Fordham University) |
| Rookie of the Tournament: |
Thomas Lercari (Fordham University) |
| Coach of the Tournament: |
Brian Bacharach (Fordham University) |
|
|
| First Team |
|
| Luca Castorina (Goalie) |
George Washington University |
| Viktor Jovanovic |
George Washington University |
| Hans Zdolsek |
Fordham University |
| Jacopo Parrella |
Fordham University |
| George Papanikolaou |
Fordham University |
| Isaac Salinas |
United States Naval Academy |
| Oliver Fodor |
Wagner College |
|
|
| Second Team |
|
| Caden Capobianoco (Goalie) |
United States Naval Academy |
| Hasan Mogultay |
Bucknell University |
| Lucas Nieto Jasny |
Fordham University |
| Vlad Mickic |
Gannon University |
| Jayden Kunwar |
Johns Hopkins University |
| Jason O'Donnell |
Mount St. Mary's University |
| Vuk Bulajic |
Wagner College |
