Bronx, N.Y. – (September 6, 2024) – The three-time defending MAWPC champion Fordham Rams begin the 2024 water polo season this weekend at the Bruno Classic, hosted by Brown and Harvard Universities.
The nationally ranked Rams have four matches slated for week one, beginning on Saturday, September 7
th with a 9:00 AM match at #20/#20 Brown University. Fordham then has a second ranked opponent on Saturday in #17/#17 Cal Baptist in a game to be played at Harvard at 5:00 PM. On Sunday, Fordham takes on MIT at 10:30 AM in a game also at Harvard. The weekend then ends with an exhibition contest against #15/16 Harvard at 1:00 PM.
Fordham opens the year at 14
th in the country in the CWPA/NCAA national poll, while the ACWPC poll has the Rams at 15
th.
The Rams bring back virtually the entire squad that went 24-8 and made it to the NCAA Championship quarterfinal, where they fell to eventual national champion, Cal.
SERIES HISTORY: For the three non-exhibition matches, Fordham has lengthy histories with each team. The Rams and Bears history goes as far back as 1969. Having not played each other for a six-year stretch, the two teams matched up twice in 2023 in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown grabbed the first meeting by an 18-13 score, while Fordham won the re-match, 16-7. That was the Rams' first win over Brown since 2009.
Between Fordham and Cap Baptist, the Lancers hold an 11-2 edge over the Rams, dating back to 2008. However, Fordham took last year's meeting out in Santa Clara, knocking off #13 Cal Baptist, 15-10.
As for MIT on Sunday, that series also dates back to the mid 1960s. The Engineers and Rams did not meet each other last season, but did in 2022, where Fordham took a 14-7 decision from MIT. The Rams have won seven of the last nine meetings, dating back to 2014.
TEAM CAPTAINS: Fordham will have the trio of seniors
Mark Katsev,
Lucas Nieto Jasny, and
Luca Silvestri as team captains for the 2024 season.
WE'RE BACK: Fordham returnees are led by ACWPC Third Team All-American and MAWPC MVP
George Papanikolaou, who led the squad with a career-high 147 points on 64 goals and 83 assists. Fordham also returns ACWPC Honorable Mention All-American
Luca Silvestri (67 goals, 32 assists) and MAWPC Second Team selection
Jacopo Parrella (57 goals, 53 assists). Additionally, Fordham also has back a trio of MAWPC weekly awards winners from last season in two-year captain
Lucas Nieto Jasny (56 goals, 60 assists),
Balazs Berenyi (49 goals, 30 assists), and
Barnabas Eppel (63 goals). Goalkeeper
Thomas Lercari also returns in 2024, after missing half of the 2023 season due to injury. He still managed to record 153 saves in 15 games over the back half of the season.
WELCOME ABOARD: The Rams added 11 newcomers, which included graduate students
James Oriskovich and
Marco Napolitano, as well freshman
Andras Toth. Oriskovich spent the last three seasons at UC Santa Barbara, totaling 68 goals in that time with a career-high 35 in 2023, while Napolitano, a long-time club teammate of Parrella and Silvestri in Italy, comes to Rose Hill after playing for the Posillipo Senior Team that competed in Serie A1, one of the highest level leagues in the world. Toth enters his first season at Fordham after winning the 2024 Men's U18 World Championship for the Hungarian National Team.
WHO'S NEXT: Fordham has two matches next weekend, starting with a match against UC San Diego at the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, September 14
th at 11:00 AM, while on Sunday, Fordham hosts Harvard for a noon match for the Rams' home opener.
