By Maria Trivelpiece
The Fordham University men’s water polo team ended its last season with a strong appearance in the MAWPC tournament and were looking to make a statement to begin their run to a championship in 2017. At the Navy Invitational Tournament on Sept 2 and 3 in Annapolis, Maryland, make a statement they did; the Rams came out firing taking down La Salle 14-4 in their first match of the season. They then defeated Gannon University and lost a tough match to the 11th ranked Princeton. The following day, Fordham snagged another win over Washington and Jefferson.
Returning junior goalie Patrick Coffey was a key part in the Rams’ early success. In the match against La Salle, he had a career high 13 saves and a steal. In the other three matches, he only allowed a total of 26 goals. Yet, the strong performances by Coffey were not a surprise. “Returning goalie Patrick Coffey would be key for winning,” said head coach Bill Harris. Coffey played extremely well, and the Rams swam away with three victories.
Coffey was not the only Ram coming up big in the pool at Navy. The graduate student transfer attacker from Italy, Masimiliano Mirachi, was also a key contributor and will most likely continue to be one. In the opening weekend, Mirachi netted 16 goals in four games. In his first outing as a Fordham Ram he earned the MAWPC Offensive Player of the Week honor. “Mirachi is a great assest who can raise the level of play for the entire team,” said Harris.
Coming into this past weekend, the Rams had high expectations to continue with their early success at the Princeton Invitational tournament; however, things did not go as planned. Fordham lost its first two matches to Santa Clara and then 14th ranked Brown. However, even the losses were hard fought, close matches that bred hope for Fordham. These rowdy Rams fought back to pick up a win against Chapman to end their weekend on a high. Mirachi again was the star, scoring three of the six Ram goals. Fordham’s men’s water polo team improved to 4-3 on the season.
“If my team continues to play and give the effort that they were giving in preseason, the results will show come time of their first match,” said Harris during the preseason. After just two weekends of play, it seems as if his predictions are proving to be true. The Rams are outscoring their opponents 78-54 and each of their three losses have been extremely close, all within an average of three goals. The impact players of Coffey and Mirachi are meeting their expectations and the team as a whole has been coming through in pressure situations versus strong, ranked opponents. The Fordham University men’s water polo team will be back in the pool on Sept 23 where they will take on John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
