Bronx, N.Y. – (September 26, 2024) – It will be a busy home weekend for the ninth ranked Fordham water polo team, playing host to four matches, including a pair of ranked showdowns. On Friday night, it will be a top ten match-up, as the seventh ranked Princeton Tigers make their first appearance at Rose Hill since 2019, while Saturday will see MAWPC league matches against 17
th ranked Navy, George Washington, and Mercyhurst.
Fordham (9-0, 3-0 MAWPC) heads into the weekend at #9 in the CWPA/NCAA national poll and #11 in the ACWPC Coaches Poll, the Rams highest ranking since they were eighth in 1979.
Princeton enters Friday with a 9-3 overall record with its lone losses to then-#7 Pacific by one goal, then-#6 Cal by five, and then #1 UCLA in overtime by one. Roza Pozaric leads the Tigers' offense with 30 goals and 18 assists, while Vladan Mitrovic has 26 goals and 11 assists.
Navy has also had a strong start, posting a 10-3 overall record, 1-0 in the MAWPC, with their three losses all coming against ranked opponents (Princeton, Pacific, Harvard). The 2023 MAWPC Rookie of the Year Kiefer Black picked up right where he left off, as he leads the Midshipmen with 41 goals and 41 assists, while Luka Sekulic has 25 markers on the season.
George Washington is 5-5 on the year, 1-0 in the MAWPC, and will face Wagner earlier on Saturday morning. Adonis Vlassis leads the offensive attack for the Revolutionaries with 28 goals, while Andrija Sekulic has 24 on the year. Goalkeeper Luca Castorina is also back in net, posting 96 saves in the first ten matches this year.
Mercyhurst is in its first season in the MAWPC and are 4-7 overall, 0-3 in the league. The Lakers are on a three-match win streak, after sweeping three matches at the Erie Invitational.
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham and Princeton meet once again with both teams in the national rankings. In recent years the two squads have met in the opening round game with the NCAA Championship twice with Princeton winning both contests. The Tigers have won the last five meetings, which were all at Princeton, but the last time the Tigers came to Rose Hill, Fordham came away with an 11-10 victory.
Saturday begins with a re-match of the 2021 and 2023 MAWPC Championship match between Fordham and Navy. The Rams won both of those contests and have won eight consecutive matches against the Midshipmen. Navy's last win over Fordham came in 2019.
Fordham and George Washington are all tied up at 18 wins apiece in the series history. Fordham has won the last six meetings with the last Revolutionary win in 2019. Against Mercyhurst, Fordham has won 13 straight meetings, dating back to 2013.
TOTH CAPTURES MAWPC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK AWARD (9/23): The Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) released its weekly awards on Wednesday with Fordham freshman
Andras Toth earning the league's Rookie of the Week honor. It is Toth's first career weekly award of the season.
Toth had another impressive weekend, as the nationally ranked Rams improved to 9-0 overall and 3-0 in the MAWPC. He registered 12 goals to go with eight assists and four steals over four matches at the Bison Invitational. He opened the weekend with a goal and two assists in a win over Mt. St. Mary's, while netting four goals, two assists, and two steals in a win against Bucknell on Saturday. After picking up a goal and an assist in a win over Johns Hopkins, Toth exploded against Salem on Sunday, scoring seven goals on seven shots to go with three assists and a steal.
LAST TIME OUT (9/22): The nationally ranked Fordham water polo team took care of business on Sunday, improving to 9-0 on the season with a pair of wins at the Bison Invitational in Lewisburg, Pa.
Fordham defeated MAWPC opponent Johns Hopkins, 28-9, in the team's morning match to go to 3-0 in league action. In match two, Fordham knocked off Salem, 23-11.
Against Johns Hopkins,
Luca Provenziani recorded four goals and two assists with
George Papanikolaou having three goals and an assist.
Barnabas Eppel,
Jagger McMannis,
Lucas Nieto Jasny,
Mark Katsev,
Tyler Fahey,
Brendan Cassidy, and
Marco Napolitano also added two goals apiece. Fordham's trio of goalkeepers each had time in net with
Thomas Lercari having four saves in the first quarter with
Kristof Magony (two saves) and
Reggie Robles (three saves) each playing a quarter and a half.
In the Salem match,
Andras Toth scored seven goals on seven shots to go with three assists and a steal, while Papanikolaou and Provenziani each had a hat trick. Eppel and Nieto Jasny also had two goals a piece in the game. Lercari played three quarters in net, making 12 saves, with Magony and Robles splitting the final frame.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Through nine contests, Fordham has scored 192 goals, averaging 21.3 per contest. Eight individual players are in double figures, led by
Andras Toth (25),
Lucas Nieto Jasny (22), and
Luca Provenziani (18). The Rams have also cranked things up with the man-advantage, converting on 67% of their opportunities (48 for 72).
GOIN' STREAKIN': After winning their first three MAWPC matches at the Bison Invitational, Fordham has now won 33 consecutive league contests dating back to late in the 2021 season. If you include the MAWPC Championship, the Rams have beaten an MAWPC opponent 41 straight times.
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 227 following his play at the Bison Invitational.
GREAT START: The Rams have blasted on to the scene in 2024 with a 9-0 record. It is the longest win streak to start a season since 1973, when Fordham won its first ten matches.
WHO'S NEXT: After this weekend, the Rams will have a bit of a break until their next games on Saturday, October 12
th, when Fordham hosts Wagner at 11:00 AM and Iona at 3:00 PM.
