STAFF WRITER

Men’s Water Polo kicked off the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) conference games at Fordham with a 2-2 record this past weekend. It was a bit of a rough start on Saturday with a 15-5 loss against Harvard followed by a 17-5 loss against No. 17, Brown. Coach Bill Harris seemed disappointed yet unfazed by the losses saying they were “rather predictable.”

With five starters injured and two talented teams to face, the Rams put up a valiant effort in both games.

On Sunday, however, three of the five injured players returned and the team improved significantly. The morning game against MIT was a nail-biter to the very end. After a lot of back and forth scoring, MIT secured a one-goal lead with just two minutes to play.

A last minute time out and play drawn up by assistant coach Brian Bacharach, however, led to a game-tying goal scored by Ben Clinkinbeard that forced overtime. For two overtimes both teams tried and failed to secure the lead, taking the game into sudden death overtime. The third overtime also went scoreless. Finally, in yet another last minute play, senior Nick Allen scored off of a penalty shot with 28 seconds left to bring in the victory for the Rams.

“The win against MIT was a big win for us,” Harris said. “We needed those points for the standings.”

In the following game, against Connecticut College, the Rams seemed to have lost some energy. Though exhausted from the MIT game, the Rams never surrendered their lead to Connecticut. It seemed as though everyone got a piece of the action: Allen tied his career high of six goals, followed by sophomore Andrew Gonzalez with three and Clinkinbeard, freshman R.J. Simmons, senior Dan Kearney and sophomores Bobby Wurtz, Davis DeFontes and Patrick Reyes each with one. Although Harris was “preparedly sure of the win,” he reminded the team, as every good coach does, not to take the game for granted. The Rams heeded their coach, won the game 15-10 and pulled out their second victory of the day.

The Rams will have a solid week of rest under their belts before next Tuesday’s game against Iona. With a 2-2 record for the conference thus far, the Rams are tied in the standings with the Gaels, who defeated Connecticut College and Harvard, but lost to MIT and Brown. With the split in wins for both Fordham and Connecticut, the game on Tuesday, Oct. 1, should be a highly competitive match.