Since the fall of 2021, Fordham University Water Polo has done one thing — win.
The Rams are the winners of three straight Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) titles and three straight automatic bids into the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship. Prior to 2021, the program had never won a conference championship — now it’s expected.
Fordham enters the MAWPC championship this weekend as the overwhelming favorite, donned the top seed after finishing the regular season as the only undefeated team in NCAA water polo with a spotless 28-0 record.
The Rams currently rank No. 3 overall in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) national polls, the highest ranking ever given to a non-California program. It’s unprecedented, particularly for an East Coast program that lacked national relevance just over a decade ago.
It’s not hard to pinpoint the catalyst of Fordham’s meteoric rise to a national powerhouse.
“It didn’t start just in September when we had our first game,” head coach Brian Bacharach remarked. “This group of seniors specifically has been working towards this moment, this season, for four years.”
At the forefront are a trio of superstars who ushered the Rams into a new era of water polo.
George Papanikolaou, Jacopo Parrella and Lucas Nieto Jasny, now all seniors, arrived in the Bronx in the fall of 2021 and wasted no time getting acclimated.
Parrella was a First Team All-MAWPC selection, leading the Rams with 124 goals and 67 assists. Nieto Jasny finished second in all scoring categories. And last but certainly not least, Papanikolaou tallied a team-high 74 goals en route to being named the MAWPC Rookie of the Year and an All-American Honorable Mention.
Each member of the trio has recorded at least 50 goals and 100 points in their first three seasons in New York. And their impact transcends the pool that lies within the Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center.
All three hail from overseas — Papanikolauo from Greece, Nieto Jasny from Spain and Parrella from Italy. This integration of foreign recruits has opened the Rams up to a hotbed of water polo talent and made Fordham one of the top American destinations for European talent.
Parrella was able to recruit senior Luca Silvestri, a former teammate of his in Italy who transferred over as a sophomore and led the Rams in goals last season. With every year, it seems as if the talent level of the new recruits rises.
Look no further than two impact freshmen, Luca Provenziani (Italy) and Andras Toth (Hungary), who have quickly risen to stardom much like their predecessors.
Provenziani leads the Rams in scoring with 77 goals and 129 points. Toth is right behind him with 72 goals and 101 points, both second on the team. Keep in mind, that’s on a star-studded roster with no shortage of all-conference selections. It just speaks to the level of talent Fordham is landing from overseas.
Over half of Fordham’s Roster (13 of 25) consists of non-American-born players, including a team-high four players from Hungary. This injection of foreign talent has helped the Rams go on a rampage of utter domination in the MAWPC.
Including championship play, Fordham has won their last 50 MAWPC games and boasts a 61-1 conference record since the start of 2021.
Despite that dominance, success at the highest level has eluded them.
The Rams are winless in their three trips to the NCAA tournament so far, the first two seasons falling to East Coast powerhouse Princeton University in the opening round before earning a bid straight to the quarterfinals last year, where they fell to the No. 2-seeded University of California.
But this year feels a little different.
The Rams have spent the last three seasons in the shadow of Princeton, the cream of the crop in the east for the better part of a decade. That mantle is seemingly shifting as the Rams defeated the Tigers 12-9 in the Bronx back in September and currently outrank them by three spots.
Plus, Fordham is making waves that should cause the California programs to proceed with caution.
The Rams have 11 wins over ranked opponents this season, five of which were based in California, the nation’s top state for water polo. Most notably, Fordham defeated a University of the Pacific team that was ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time of play by a score of 17-13.
Bacharach designed a difficult schedule for his squad, and they proved themselves to be more than up for the challenge.
But while the regular season has been shaped by winning, the only type of winning that matters for this squad is one that ends in a championship.
“We came from zero,” Papanikolaou told Fox 5 NY. “Fordham, before my class came, they didn’t win anything. And now we have three championships in a row. And now we’re going for the fourth. And now we’re going strong for the NCAAs.”
The MAWPC Championship begins this Friday and goes until Sunday, with the Rams boasting the No. 1 seed. If they advance, as expected, they will travel to Stanford, California for the NCAA Championship, which starts on Dec. 6.
During my freshman year, I ran into Thomas Lercari, now a senior and the Rams starting goalkeeper, in the midst of what became their first championship season.
At one point in our conversation, I asked him if he thought Fordham could win an NCAA title. He paused, chuckled and told me, “maybe senior year.”
The Rams have a chance to turn that vision into reality.
Fordham is no stranger to winning. But there are levels to winning. The Rams have an opportunity to achieve the ultimate victory — an NCAA title. And they have the talent to do it.
