Washington, D.C./Annapolis, Md. – (November 5, 2022) – The 18
th-ranked Fordham water polo team is on a major roll and that continued on Saturday, as the Rams extended their win streak to 14 games and in doing so, secured its second straight MAWPC regular season title. Fordham is now 22-6 overall, 15-0 in the MAWPC.
The Rams opened Saturday with a tight win over #19 George Washington by a 14-13 score.
Fordham got out to a good start, scoring the first three goals of the contest by
Christos Loupakis,
Luca Silvestri, and
George Papanikolaou.
The Rams extended the lead to four by halftime at 7-3, as Loupakis and Papanikolaou each netted their second of the game, while
Balazs Berenyi and
Lucas Nieto Jasny found the scoresheet for the first time.
The Colonials fought back within one in the third quarter at 9-8, but a late tally by
Nir Gross made it a two-goal lead for Fordham, entering the final frame.
The lead got cut to one multiple times, but Fordham kept answering back to lead by two, 14-12, on Silvestri's second of the game with 2:05 left. George Washington then scored with 1:11 left to make it 14-13 and got possession back with under a minute to play. The Rams though behind a stellar game in goal by
Thomas Lercari held on defensively for the one-goal victory.
For Fordham, Lercari made a career-high 21 saves in net, while offensively, Loupakis scored a game-high five goals. Silvestri, Gross, and Papanikolaou each netted two markers with Jasny,
Nacho Ariste, and Berenyi having the final markers for the Rams.
The Rams then headed to Navy, where it was a close match with the score tied at four, halfway through the third quarter. Fordham though outscored the Midshipmen, 7-1, over the final quarter and a half to come away with an 11-5 victory.
With the score at four all in the third, Berenyi and
Jacopo Parrella scored toward the end of the quarter to make it a 6-4 score.
The Rams scored three more in a row in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 9-4, capped by a Loupakis tally. Fordham then closed out the scoring with goals by Parrella and
Mark Katsev for the 11-5 final.
For Fordham, Parrella netted three goals to lead the attack with Papanikolaou having two markers. The remaining tallies came from Loupakis,
Curtis Vidinoff,
Gabriel Melillo, and Katsev. Lercari added 13 saves in net.
Fordham will wrap up league play on Sunday at John Hopkins with an 11:00 AM match.
