#15 Fordham Water Polo already boasts consecutive Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) championships. Now they’re poised to claim a third straight title, clinching the top seed in the MAWPC for the third year in a row with a trio of wins to close out conference play.
There was little break in the schedule for the Rams who, returning from a grueling five-day West Coast trip the week prior, were met with a trio of MAWPC opponents this weekend to close out conference play for the regular season.
With Fordham protecting both the top seed and a perfect 9-0 conference record, they controlled their destiny in the final stretch.
A Saturday doubleheader awaited the Rams, kicking things off with an 11 a.m. match against George Washington University.
Meeting earlier in the season, Fordham had blown the doors off of the Revolutionaries with an 18-6 win in September. This time, it wouldn’t be so easy.
GW grabbed a 4-1 first quarter lead, but the Rams quickly responded, netting five goals in the second to take a 6-5 lead at halftime. Tied 7-7 entering the final frame, junior Lucas Nieto Jasny and senior Christos Loupakis tallied markers to give Fordham a two-goal lead.
The Revolutionaries answered right back with three straight, giving GW the advantage with less than three minutes to play.
Luckily for the Rams, junior Jacopo Parrella has never met a big moment he didn’t like. After tying the game with 2:36 left, Parrella recorded a steal and converted on the ensuing breakaway to give Fordham the lead with 1:56 left. The Rams would hold it down from there, staving off a GW power play in the final minute to come away with a tight win.
Parrella turned in a hat trick while reigning MAWPC Rookie of the Week Barnabas Eppel turned in another multi-goal performance.
Fordham avoided a tight-knit affair in the second game of the day, defeating Mount St. Mary’s University by a score of 19-8. Leaping out quickly with back-to-back five-goal quarters, the Rams rode a 10-4 lead at halftime all the way to an easy finish. Parrella notched a second straight hat trick alongside sophomore Balazs Berenyi, but both were outdone by Nieto Jasny’s game-high four goals.
With their two wins, Fordham officially secured the top seed in the 2023 MAWPC Championship. A Sunday matchup against Bucknell University would be the last time the Rams would face a conference opponent prior to the tournament, with Fordham looking to go undefeated in regular season league play for the second season in a row.
For the second game in a row, Fordham leapt out to a red-hot start, taking a 6-1 first quarter lead as Eppel and junior George Papanikolaou each netted two in the frame. Berenyi scored once in the first as well, which proved to be just the start of a phenomenal day for the sophomore. Tallying a hat trick in the second quarter alone, Berenyi tacked on three more in the second half for a career-high seven goals.
Papanikolaou notched four goals while Parrella had a complete day with one goal, five assists and five steals.
In net, junior Thomas Lercari, just one week removed from earning Defensive Player of the Week honors in the MAWPC, posted 14 saves and a pair of steals.
It’s hard to describe just how dominant Fordham’s been in the MAWPC over the last three years, but I’ll do my darndest. Since receiving an influx of young talent in 2021, the Rams are 39-1 in regular season league play, winning their last 30 contests. If you include the MAWPC tournament, that winning streak stands at 36.
It won’t be a cake walk by any means, particularly with the #19 ranked United States Naval Academy in the mix vying for a top-four seed.
Navy currently sits 4th in the MAWPC with a 5-3 conference record, but with four league games at hand and consensus polls pointing to them as the second best team in the conference, don’t be surprised if they ended up with the #2 seed. But let’s put all that aside for now. By claiming the top seed, the Rams have once again put themselves in an excellent position to repeat for a third year in a row. And if we’re to make anything of recent history, another banner is certainly feasible.
With conference play concluded, the Rams will wrap up their regular season with two weeks of non-conference action, with the likes of schools like Iona College and Brown University on the schedule.
“It’s a little weird this year. Usually the last league games are two weeks before. Everyone else had got games two weeks before, but we had none,” said head coach Brian Bacharach. “We scheduled a few other games so that we could maybe work on a few things going into the conference championships. But at the same time really, it’s just about keeping sharp.”
Next due up, it’s the Iona Gaels on Wednesday in the annual Judge Cup. Fordham has won the last eight meetings, and is now just one win away from evening the series at 21, with the cup’s history dating back to 1999.
The MAWPC Championship begins November 17, this year hosted by Bucknell. The Rams will look to stay sharp until then.
