Lewisburg, Pa. – (September 16, 2023) – The nationally ranked Fordham water polo team had its first two MAWPC matches on Saturday at the Bucknell Invitational. The Rams got off to a great start, posting wins over host Bucknell, as well as Johns Hopkins.
With the win, Fordham improved to 6-3 on the year, 2-0 in the MAWPC, and extended its conference win streak to 20 games.
The Rams opened Saturday with a 14-11 win over Bucknell.
Trailing 5-3 after the first quarter, the Rams took charge in the second quarter, scoring all four goals in the period for a 7-5 lead. The attack was led by
Balazs Berenyi, who netted a hat trick in the quarter, while
George Papanikolaou had the other marker.
Fordham extended the lead to four, 9-5, in the third quarter following goals by
Jacopo Parrella and
Barnabas Eppel.
The Bison fought their way back within one on two different occasions in the fourth quarter, the last at 11-10 with 4:11 to go in the game. Fordham then put the game out of reach, scoring three times in just over 1:30 of game time to regain a four-goal edge, 14-10. Bucknell scored a final goal in the last minute for the 14-11 final score.
For Fordham, Berenyi finished with four goals and two assists, while Papanikolaou netted three goals.
Luca Silvestri and Parrella each scored twice with
Lucas Nieto Jasny having a goal, five assists and two steals. Gabriel Mellilo and Eppel had the remaining tallies for the Rams. In net,
Riccardo Di Giuseppe made eight saves to go with an assist.
In match two, the Rams cruised to a 21-8 victory over Johns Hopkins.
Fordham opened with an 8-2 lead after the first quarter and kept building the lead to 19-4 by the end of the third quarter.
For Fordham, 12 different Rams had at least one goal in the game. Eppel, Nieto Jasny, and Silvestri each scored a hat trick with Papanikolaou having two goals and seven assists.
Paul Armingol and Parrella had two goals apiece with Berenyi,
Jagger McMannis,
Mark Katsev,
Christian Gotterup,
Reid Thorson, and
Brendan Cassidy had the other goals. Di Giuseppe played the entire game in net, making a season-high nine saves.
The Rams have two more games at the Bucknell Invitational on Sunday against Wagner at 11:20 AM and Mt. St. Mary's at 3:20 PM.
