Fordham will travel to Brooklyn to play St. Francis again next Wednesday. Samuel Joseph/The Ram

By Anthony Ali

A spirited comeback from the Rams fell short last Wednesday, as they were defeated by No. 17 ranked St. Francis. Playing at home for the first time this season, the Rams’ late surge was not enough to overcome a six goal deficit, with the final score at 9-7.

“The guys showed real character when they came back,” said coach Bill Harris. “We’re not looking just to play with good teams. We want to defeat good teams, and I think we’re capable of doing that.”

The Rams, coming off of a three-game losing streak, looked to turn things around against the highly rated St. Francis squad that had just rebounded from its own three-game skid. Both teams started the game with a goal each, with St. Francis opening the scoring. Senior Vuk Vujosevic then added two goals to make the Terriers’ lead 3-1. The Rams pulled one back, with junior Andrew Gonzalez finding the back of the net to help the Rams end the first quarter trailing by only one goal. The second quarter was dominated by St. Francis, as it scored four goals in a row, expanding its lead to 7-2. Continuing to pile on the goals, the Terriers then marked another goal to start the third quarter, giving them their largest lead of the night at 8-2.

“They surged good,” said Harris. “We were allowing them to take too much time with their long shots.”

Thanks to a second half push which saw four different players find the back of the net, the Rams were able to mount a comeback and pull themselves within one goal. With a little over a minute left in the quarter, the Rams continued to press in search of the equalizer. A steal from senior Eric Minowitz on the defensive end allowed the Rams one last opportunity to score. Looking for junior Patrick Reyes in the two-meter area, the Rams worked the ball to him before he was promptly triple-teamed. After the ball spilled out to a St. Francis defender, the Terriers called a timeout and scored on an open net in the ensuing play to kill the game off.

Leading Fordham in goals was freshman Matthew Farrell with two. Gonzalez and Minowitz had a goal apiece, with junior Bobby Wurtz, junior Landon Kern and sophomore R.J. Simmons all tallying goals as well. In goal, senior Noah LeBeau had five saves.

The loss saw the Rams heavily outmatched in their exclusion plays, with St. Francis converting 66 percent of its exclusion plays compared to Fordham’s 25 percent. “We didn’t do well with our exclusion goals,” said coach Harris. “Had we done that, it would have been a win for the Rams.” The loss puts the Rams at 10-10 overall, with a 2-4 record in the CWPA Northern Division, which is a slight drop from their 11-9 record at this point in last season.

Fordham water polo played next against Iona in the Judge Cup on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m., with the hosting Rams looking to avenge their loss against the Gaels from earlier this season.