Bronx, N.Y. – (September 20, 2024) – It's another busy weekend for the nationally ranked Fordham water polo team with four matches at the Bison Invitational in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Three of the four matches will be MAWPC league matches against Mt. St. Mary's, Bucknell, and Johns Hopkins, while the remaining match will be against Salem.
Fordham cracked the top ten in both national polls this week, sliding up four spots to #10 in the CWPA/NCAA poll, while moving up three spots in ACWPC poll to #9. This is Fordham first
The Rams (5-0) are out to their best start since beginning 10-0 in the 1973 season. Fordham has beaten four ranked opponents and are averaging 20 goals per game, while giving up just over 11.
For the Rams' opponents this week, Mt. St. Mary's is 2-7 on the year with a 1-1 mark in the MAWPC, while Bucknell is 2-7, having played five ranked opponents in UC San Diego, Long Beach State, Harvard, Santa Clara, and Princeton. Johns Hopkins is 5-3 overall, 1-0 in the MAWPC with Salem at 6-2 on the year and receiving a vote in the CWPA/NCAA poll.
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham is 8-0 all-time against Mt. St. Mary's, dating back to 2021. Last season, the Rams posted 21-11 and 19-8 victories over the Mountaineers.
The Rams and Bison have played plenty since the series began in the 1970s. After Bucknell dominated the series through 2019, Fordham has taken control since 2021, winning all seven matches, which includes the 2022 MAWPC Championship match. Last season, the Rams won the two regular season meetings by scores of 14-11 and 16-12.
Fordham and Johns Hopkins have been regular adversaries since the 1990s. The Rams have won the last four meetings, including both match-ups last year by scores of 21-8 and 28-12. The Bluejays last win over the Rams came in 2021.
Salem is another opponent that Fordham has seen regularly. The Rams saw Salem three times in 2022, winning all three meetings and have won the last 13 meetings overall. Salem's last win over the Rams came in 2003.
RAMS' DUO EARNS MAWPC HONORS (9/16): The Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) released its weekly awards on Wednesday with Fordham seniors
Luca Silvestri and
Thomas Lercari earning the league's Player and Defensive Player of the Week honors, respectively. It is Silvestri's third career Player of the Week award, and Lercari's ninth career Defensive Player of the Week award and second of the season.
Silvestri led the Rams to a pair of ranked victories over UC San Diego and Harvard this past weekend, totaling six goals, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. He scored a hat trick against UC San Diego to go with three assists and two steals, while netting his second hat trick of the weekend versus Harvard to go with two assists, a steal, and two blocks.
Lercari totaled 17 saves, three assists, and two steals in Fordham's 2-0 weekend against UC San Diego and Harvard. He recorded 11 saves in a 13-5 win over UC San Diego on Saturday to go with an assist and a steal, while having six saves, two assists, and a steal in a win over Harvard on Sunday.
LAST TIME OUT (9/15): The Fordham water polo team had a dog fight on their hands at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center, but eventually came out on top, 16-15, over #15/16 Harvard.
The contest went back and forth in the first quarter with the score tied at four with 1:15 left in the period, before Fordham picked up an extra-man goal by
Marco Napolitano and a penalty shot goal by
Luca Provenziani in the final minute for a 6-4 lead.
The Rams then built up to a 10-5 advantage in the second quarter for their largest lead of the game. However, Harvard scored twice to end the half and then scored the opening two goals in the third to pull within one, 10-9.
The teams exchanged goals throughout the third quarter, leaving the score at 13-12 in favor of Fordham, entering the final period.
In the final frame,
Andras Toth and
George Papanikolaou each pumped in a goal in the first few minutes to get the lead back to three, 15-12, with 5:10 left. Harvard cut the lead back to two, but Toth got the Rams back to a three-goal edge with 3:30 remaining before the Crimson cut the lead to one with only 16 seconds left. Fordham was able to hold out the final ticks for the 16-15 win.
Luca Silvestri had a team-best three goals on the day for Fordham, while Toth, Provenziani,
Jacopo Parrella, and
Lucas Nieto Jasny each have a pair of markers. In goal,
Thomas Lercari made eight saves in net to go with two assists and a steal.
CAREER MILESTONES: Over the last two weekends, seniors
Jacopo Parrella and
George Papanikolaou reached 200 career goals scored, becoming just the third and fourth 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). The duo may have company as early as this weekend, as
Lucas Nieto Jasny (190) is also closing in on that milestone. Additionally, Papanikolaou looks to surpass Miller-Tolt's modern day career assists record of 220, as Papanikolaou tied the mark last weekend with an assist against Harvard.
WHO'S NEXT: Fordham will have four home matches next weekend at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center. The Rams host Princeton on Friday, September 27
th at 6:00 PM, while playing Navy (10:30 AM), George Washington (4:00 PM), and Mercyhurst (6:30 PM) on Saturday, September 28
th.
