Santa Clara, Calif. – (October 22, 2023) – The nationally-ranked Fordham water polo team gave as good as they got in a rematch from earlier this year against #4 Pepperdine to conclude their west coast swing at the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament.
Back in the season opener in September, Fordham lost to Pepperdine, 16-10, but today the Rams fought hard all the way to the end, as they were edged by the Waves, 15-14.
After Pepperdine built up a 7-5 lead in the second quarter, Fordham got two even-strength goals by
George Papanikolaou and
Luca Silvestri to knot the game at seven. However, Pepperdine picked up a power play goal to go into halftime with an 8-7 lead.
The Waves increased their lead to 11-7 in the third quarter, before the Rams got back in the game at 13-11, following a last second goal by Silvestri.
The teams exchanged goals up to
Christos Loupakis' third goal of the game with 2:38 left, which made it a 15-13 score. The Rams had a couple of chances to close in farther, but a couple of shots by
Lucas Nieto Jasny clanged off the post and away. He would get a man-up goal in the final seconds to make it 15-14, but Fordham never got the ball back.
For Fordham, Silvestri had four goals to lead the offense, while Loupakis and Nieto Jasny each had a hat trick.
Barnabas Eppel, Papanikolaou, Armingol, and
Jacopo Parrella had the remaining markers for Fordham. In net,
Thomas Lercari posted 13 stops for the Rams.
The Rams now come back to the Bronx for two matches on Saturday, October 28
th, when they host George Washington at 11:00 AM and Mt. St. Mary's at 6:00 PM.
