By BETSY BOEHLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The water polo team had another challenging weekend on the road at the Bucknell Invitational, facing Washington & Jefferson, Diablo Valley College, Mercyhurst, a preseason top-20 team, and Bucknell, which is ranked 15th in the nation.
Unfazed by the tough competition, Fordham came out strong against Washington & Jefferson. The Rams had a strong 7-2 lead by halftime, with senior Nick Allen netting three goals and senior Ben Clinkinbeard, sophomore Andrew Gonzalez, sophomore Patrick Reyes and junior Eric Minowitz sinking one apiece. The Rams stumbled a bit and Washington & Jefferson narrowed the score to 8-4. In the fourth quarter, however, the Rams relentlessly stepped it up and left with a 12-4 win. Sophomore Peter Bergum had two goals in the fourth quarter and sophomores Patrick Lenihan and Mike Hay ended the scoring with one goal each. Junior Noah LeBeau had a solid eight saves and senior Eric Mullery had one as well.
Game two on Saturday was a tough loss for the Rams. Diablo Valley College came out strong, ending the first quarter 7-1; however, the Rams were persistent in their efforts to come back. After a six goal streak in the fourth quarter the team fell just short, losing 13-11. Lenihan scored four goals and led the Rams attack. Gonzalez added three and sophomores Bobby Wurtz and Davis DeFontes, Allen and Clinkinbeard all had one. LeBeau ended the game with six saves and Mullery had five in the final quarter to help the defense.
On Sunday morning, Fordham had a rough game against Mercyhurst, but persevered. The Rams held the lead for most of the game and added a four-goal safety net in the final quarter, winning the game 10-6.
Junior Ori Raz had a game-high four goals, while Lenihan netted three, Allen had two and Wurtz had the final goal. LeBeau had nine saves to help secure the Rams’ victory. “Mercyhurst was a top four team in the east in 2013,” head coach Bill Harris said, “so the win over them showed that we are moving in the right direction.”
The Rams fell to Bucknell 14-7 in game two, though. At the end of the first quarter the score was tied at two, but by halftime the Bison had netted five more and took control of the game. Raz and DeFontes each had two, while Allen, Clinkinbeard and Minowitz had one apiece. LeBeau had nine saves in goal once again.
Proving to be a very consistent keeper, LeBeau will be a key player this season. The returning junior, who appeared in 25 of the 27 games last fall, making 199 saves (the sixth most in a single season in Fordham history). He also holds the record for most saves in a game, topping the charts with 21 against Mercyhurst last year.
Still playing out of conference games, the team is building up a steady record (5-3) for the start of conference play this weekend. They have a lot of action this weekend, with two games on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Rams lost two players this weekend with DeFontes and Reyes suffering injuries, so the team will have to pull from the bench for the coming weekend.
“We fought hard this weekend,” Harris said, “but I would have felt better going into the conference games with a full squad.”
The weekend kicks off with a match against Harvard (2-7) at 2 p.m. and then Brown (6-4) at 7 p.m. Following on Sunday will be MIT (2-5) at 10 a.m. and Connecticut College (1-5) at 2 p.m.
