Princeton, N.J. – (September 11, 2022) – The 17
th-ranked Fordham water polo team fell just short of perfect weekend at the Princeton Invitational on Sunday.
The Rams opened Sunday's action with a 17-8 win over #18 St. Francis Brooklyn.
Fordham led wire-to-wire after taking the initial lead in the first quarter on a goal by
Nir Gross. The Rams netted five goals in the first period and did not look back, scoring four in the second, six in the third, and two in the fourth for the 17-goal total.
For the Rams,
George Papanikolaou had a big game with three goals, four assists, and three steals, while
Christos Loupakis notched a game-high four goals. Balasz Berenyi added three goals and two steals with Gross and
Jacopo Parrella each scoring twice. The remaining goals came from
Curtis Vidinoff,
Daniel Lynch, and
Nacho Ariste. In net,
Thomas Lercari was superb with 13 saves to go with two steals and an assist.
In the Invitational finale, it was a re-match of last year's NCAA opening round match between #17 Fordham and #10 Princeton. The Rams led after three quarters by a 10-8 score, but the Tigers rallied for five goals in the final frame to take the 13-12 decision.
After Princeton tied the game at 10 early in the fourth quarter, Luke Johnston scored on the man-up advantage to give the Tigers the led for the first time since the second quarter.
Gross answered for Fordham to tie the game at 11, but with 1:46 left, Roko Pozaric scored his fourth goal of the game to put Princeton back on top. Princeton then made it a two-goal game after converting on a penalty shot with 23 seconds left. The Rams got a late extra-man goal from Loupakis but would run out of time, falling by a 13-12 count.
For Fordham, Parrella scored a game-high five goals, while Loupakis added three markers. Gross,
Jason Hiremath, Papanikolaou, and Ariste had the remaining markers for the Rams.
Fordham will next be in action on September 17-18 at the Bucknell Invitational.
