By Tom Terzulli
Fordham Water Polo’s three- game road trip this past weekend culminated in history. With Saturday’s thrilling 14-13 overtime victory over Navy, the Rams topped the Midshipmen for the first time since 1981.
“Historically, it was something we have never done,” said head coach Bill Harris. “This team has surprised me with how well they’ve played this season with so many freshman.”
However, that win was not the only game of the weekend, as Fordham had two contests to prepare them for the Sunday showdown in Annapolis. The first took place less than an hour away in Baltimore, where the Rams outlasted Johns Hopkins 8-7 in a gritty and defensive affair.
“We really just played a great defensive game. We had I think 17 steals, which is one of the highest numbers I’ve ever seen in the years I’ve been at Fordham,” said Harris. “The pool is not extraordinarily wide, so you’re always in close proximity of each other and the guys took advantage of that.”
Freshman Jake Miller-Tot, sophomores Magnus Sims and Ian Watson and senior captain R.J. Simmons led the way at two goals apiece. In net, junior keeper Alex Jahns had one of his better games in net, swiping away 10 shots and allowing only seven scores. Coach Harris has come to expect that kind of play from Jahns, saying he “had a good game, which is commonplace for him. He’s a solid goalie.”
Next up was a tough matchup with the George Washington Colonials, the 16th-ranked team in the country. The Rams got off to a quick start, taking an early 2-1 advantage on first quarter scores from Simmons and Sims. That would be their last lead of the game however, as the Colonials went on to outscore Fordham 17-4 over the next three quarters for a 18-6 victory. Coach Harris tried to stay constructive even in defeat. “We came out strong, then they started to take advantage of us playing the second game of the day and being on the road,” he said. “When the score started to slip away from us, I realized the best decision I could make was to get everyone on the team at least some playing time to get some hardcore experience and rest some guys for the Navy game which we knew would be a tough one.”
Simmons and Sims went on to score another goal apiece to put their totals at two. Goals five and six came courtesy of Miller-Tot and sophomore Sam Varshisky in garbage time.
After a hard-nosed battle with Hopkins and a blowout defeat against GW, it was time for the main event: a showdown against Navy. The game was deadlocked at eight going into the final frame, with the Rams looking for the first victory in their last 25 chances against the Midshipmen.
Fordham struck first to go up 9-8, before Navy converted on a five meter penalty shot to tie it. With 52 seconds remaining, Jared Castillo gave the Midshipmen a one point lead. After a little back and forth, the Rams had one chance left to tie with 11 seconds on the clock. A beautiful loft shot from Simmons did the trick, hitting the top right corner of the net to send the game into overtime. “I don’t want to give R.J. a big head but that was a heck of a shot. The way he lofted it was like a changeup in baseball. About 99 percent of the game he was throwing up some heat and to have the confidence to throw up a lob shot and get it in, he’s a natural athlete,” said Coach Harris.
Three minutes into the extra frame Navy was on top 12-11. With 1:44 left, Fordham tied the score at 12 on a strike from Miller-Tot. Seconds later, Simmons gave the Rams the lead with a man-up goal. The Midshipmen would not go down easy though, as Nik Galvan tied it at 13 with just 47 seconds to play. But, it was by the hands of Sophomore Cole Donnelly that the Rams ended the 35 year drought, a goal with 29 seconds left sealed it.
After the shock wore off, Harris went back into coach mode and looked for things his team could have done better. “The way we played was below our level, it was a great win… But, we had a dug a hole for ourselves and we had to work extremely hard to tie and retake the lead. If we can play to our level, I’m hoping that this coming weekend we can take a lead on Navy and hold it.”
The Rams will indeed get another shot at the Midshipmen along with three other squads in a four- game homestead this weekend. They have a rematch with Johns Hopkins and Cornell at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. Followed by a pair of rematches with GW and the aforementioned Navy at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. the next day.
