Stanford, Calif. – (September 24, 2022) – Day two of the MPSF Invitational for the 16
th-ranked Fordham Rams was not a pleasant one, falling in both of their matches on Saturday.
Fordham (8-6) was in control in their first match of the day against #13 UC Irvine, leading 12-8 in the fourth quarter. However, the Anteaters scored five times in the final five minutes to sneak away with a 13-12 decision.
The Rams led 3-2 after the first quarter following a goal by
Lucas Nieto Jasny with nine seconds left in the quarter.
The Anteaters flipped the advantage their way by halftime with a 5-4 advantage, but a six-goal third quarter left Fordham with a 10-8 advantage. In the third,
Luca Silvestri,
Nacho Ariste and
Balazs Berenyi each scored twice.
Fordham extended the lead to 12-8 in the fourth quarter, as Berenyi and
George Papanikolaou each scored to begin the period. Unfortunately for the Rams, UC Irvine closed the gap to 12-10 and then scored three more times with the extra-man advantage to wrap up the 13-12 win.
For Fordham, Berenyi and Silvestri each netted a hat trick with Papanikolaou and Ariste having two goals apiece. Nieto Jasny and
Jacopo Parrella rounded out the Rams' scoring. In net,
Thomas Lercari was credited with six saves and an assist.
Like the first match Saturday, Fordham started out well, leading Santa Clara, 4-2, at halftime, but the Broncos netted eight straight goals in the second half to take the match by a 10-5 count.
In that match, Silvestri scored twice with
Jason Hiremath, Parrella, and
Mark Katsev also scoring.
Fordham will close out the MPSF Invitational on Sunday at 11:30 AM ET with a match against Pomona-Pitzer.
