Bronx, N.Y. – (November 21, 2024) – The postseason starts for the #3/4 Fordham water polo team this weekend, as the Rams are the top seed at the 2024 MAWPC Championship, which begins on Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Fordham finished the regular season with a perfect 28-0 record with a 14-0 mark in the MAWPC. They will face #8 seed Mercyhurst (7-23, 0-14 MAWPC) in the quarterfinals on Friday at 3:00 PM. The Rams already have two wins over the Lakers this season by scores of 26-9 (Sept. 28) and 26-4 (Nov. 9).
The Rams are in search of their fourth consecutive MAWPC Championship and another trip to the NCAA Championship. The winner of the Fordham-Mercyhurst match will play the winner of the Wagner-Bucknell quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon at approximately 4:00 PM. The other side of the bracket features George Washington against Johns Hopkins and Navy versus Mt. St. Mary's in the quarterfinals. The championship match is set for Sunday at about 1:30 PM.
The entire tournament will be streamed live on Game On Live Sports (GOLS). Fans can watch the entire tournament for a payment of $25.
RAMS SWEEP MAJOR MAWPC AWARDS WITH SIX HONORED (11/20): The Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) released its end of year major awards and All-Conference teams with Fordham being well represented. The major awards were given to Fordham senior goalkeeper
Thomas Lercari as the league's Most Valuable Player, while freshman
Luca Provenziani took home the Rookie of the Year award. Additionally, head coach
Brian Bacharach was selected as the MAWPC Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. For the All-Conference team, Lercari, Provenziani, senior
George Papanikolaou, and freshman
Andras Toth were all First Team selections, while
Lucas Nieto Jasny earned Second Team honors.
Lercari is the fourth straight Ram to win the MAWPC's Most Valuable Player Award, joining Papanikolaou (2023), Nir Gross (2022), and Hans Zdolsek (2021). He led the Fordham defense this season, making 220 saves to go with 26 assists, 26 steals, and 10 penalty blocks. He has a career-best 8.73 goals against average to go with a 57% save percentage. As a team, the Rams are allowing less than ten goals per contest. A three-time MAWPC Defensive Player of the Week and a player on the USA Water Polo Cutino Award Watch List, Lercari reached a career milestone earlier this season, surpassing 800 career saves, becoming only the third Ram goalkeeper to reach that mark.
Provenziani is Fordham's first Rookie of the Year winner since Papanikolaou in 2021. A two-time MAWPC Player of the Week and three-time Rookie of the Week, he is the Rams' leader in goals (77) and points (129), while being second in assists (52), exclusions drawn (39), and extra-man goals (15). Provenziani also added 25 steals, which is tied for fifth on the team, and netted at least one goal in 27 of 28 matches.
Papanikolaou is the first Ram to be named First Team All-MAWPC all four seasons, and the second to earn All-Conference honors in each season, joining
Jake Miller-Tolt (Second Team – 2016; First Team – 2017-19). Named to the USA Water Polo Cutino Award Watch List for the second straight year, he reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth consecutive season after netting 42 goals and 59 assists to go with 30 steals and 10 blocks. Earlier this season, he became the Rams' modern day leader in career assists (268), while standing second on the career goals (236), points (504), steals (199) and blocks (54) lists behind only Miller-Tolt.
Like his freshman teammate Provenziani, Toth has fit in perfectly with the Rams, earning MAWPC Rookie of the Week honors twice this season. He has registered 72 goals and 101 points, good for second on the team in both categories, while being the team leader in steals (41), swim-off wins (67), and extra-man goals (16). Toth was also a model of consistency, netting at least one goal in 27 of the Rams' 28 games.
Nieto Jasny earned his spot on the MAWPC All-Conference Second Team after reaching the 50-goal mark for the fourth consecutive season. Previously an Honorable Mention pick as a sophomore, Nieto Jasny is fourth on the team in scoring with 85 points on 53 goals and 32 assists. He also has 22 steals and nine blocks on the defensive end this season. Like Papanikolaou, he is also among the Rams' modern day career leaders, sitting third in career goals (233), assists (198), and points (431).
Bacharach picked up his fourth consecutive MAWPC Coach of the Year award and fifth overall after leading Fordham to an undefeated regular season at 28-0 and the top seed at this week's MAWPC Championship with a 14-0 conference mark. The Rams are the lone unbeaten team in NCAA Water Polo and have ranked as high as #2 in the country in the polls with a current standing at #3.
LERCARI, PAPANIKOLAOU NAMED TO CUTINO AWARD WATCH LIST (10/17): For the third year, USA Water Polo and The Olympic Club are excited to collaborate with the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) on the Cutino Award Watch List. The Peter J. Cutino Award, named in honor of the late Hall of Fame coach, recognizes the best player in men's and women's college water polo. Among those listed are Fordham seniors
Thomas Lercari and
George Papanikolaou. The watch list was created in 2022 in an effort to help promote the college game, awareness of the honor, and the excellent play of athletes around the country.
With Lercari and Papanikolaou's inclusion, it marks the third consecutive year that Fordham has had a player on the initial watch list, joining Nir Gross in 2022 and Papanikolaou last year.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Through 28 contests, Fordham has scored 568 goals, averaging 20.3 per contest. 19 of the Rams' 21 active players are in double figures, led by
Luca Provenziani with 77.
Andras Toth is second at 72, followed by
Lucas Nieto Jasny (53) and
George Papanikolaou (42). The Rams have also cranked things up with the man-advantage, converting on 53% of their opportunities (136 for 255).
GOIN' STREAKIN': After winning all 14 MAWPC matches this season, Fordham has now won 44 consecutive league contests dating back to late in the 2021 season. If you include the MAWPC Championship, the Rams have beaten an MAWPC opponent 52 straight times.
DYNAMIC DUO: The Rams have gotten contributions up and down the roster, but leading the pack is Fordham's freshmen duo of
Luca Provenziani and
Andras Toth. Provenziani, the MAWPC Rookie of the Year, leads the team in scoring with 77 goals and 129 points to go with 52 assists, while Toth has 72 goals, 29 assists, and a team-high 41 steals. The last time Fordham's top two scorers were freshman came in 2021 with
Jacopo Parrella (124 points) and
Lucas Nieto Jasny (117).
CAREER MILESTONES: Over the first three weekends, seniors
Jacopo Parrella,
George Papanikolaou, and
Lucas Nieto Jasny reached 200 career goals scored, becoming just the third, fourth, and fifth Fordham water polo players in the last 40 years to reach that mark, joining Rick Sweeney (215 – 1984-87) and
Jake Miller-Tolt (351 – 2016-19). Additionally, Papanikolaou surpassed Miller-Tolt's modern day career assists record of 220, as Papanikolaou now has 261 for his career.
Another milestone that was hit late in the season came from goalkeeper
Thomas Lercari, as he surpassed 800 career saves, joining Timmy Will (800 - 2005-08) and Noah LeBeau (996 – 2011-14) as the only three Fordham netminders to reach that plateau. He currently sits with 859.
MORE MILESTONES ON THE HORIZON: As the Rams enter the 2024 MAWPC Championship, a number of milestones could be hit this weekend.
Lucas Nieto Jasny (198) and
Jacopo Parrella (197) are closing in on 200 assists in their careers, while
George Papanikolaou is one steal shy of 200 in his career. Papanikolaou and Nieto Jasny are also both at 127 career games played, as they chase Bobby Wurtz for the all-time games played mark (130 – 2012-15). Additionally, goalkeeper
Thomas Lercari is 41 saves shy of 900 for his career. Only Noah LeBeau has reached that milestone (996 – 2011-14).
PERFECT: The Rams finished the regular season at 28-0, the only team in the NCAA to do so this season. Fordham currently ranks third in the NCAA/CWPA Poll, while being fourth in the ACWPC Coaches' Poll. The team is also fifth in the NCAA RPI rankings.
