By Brendan Tague
Fordham had a dominant few days last weekend, winning all three of their contests against Salem International, George Washington, and Mercyhurst University before falling to St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday night.
The Rams, coming off of an overtime win last Wednesday against Iona, hosted all four matches at the Colonel Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center on the Rose Hill campus.
Fordham began the three-game weekend by playing Salem International at 8 p.m. on Friday, handling the squad and winning 16-9. The game was highlighted by a career-high five goals from sophomore Ethan Vandeventer. Salem International made it a close game on a few occasions, but the Rams led for the entirety of the game.
Fordham followed this game with a 12-10 victory against division-rivals, George Washington, with 10 different Fordham players scoring in the match. The Rams led 2-1 after a break-away goal from Vandeventer, and exclusion goals by both teams. However, George Washington won the second quarter 3-1 to tie the game going into the second half.
In the third quarter, scores from freshman Diego Delgado and junior R.J. Simmons, topped off by a goal from Vandeventer with three seconds left, gave Fordham an 8-7 lead going into the final quarter. George Washington scored an equalizing goal to open the period, but Fordham held the lead for the remainder of the game after a goal from senior Andrew Gonzalez. George Washington had a chance to send the game into overtime with a penalty with 33 seconds remaining in the game, but a clutch save from sophomore goalie Alex Jahns effectively ended the game.
Fordham then went on to beat Mercyhurst 10-6, in a game that opened with two scores from Delgado. Three unanswered goals gave Mercyhurst a lead in the second quarter, but Fordham ran away with the lead from that point, topped off by a late score from freshman Ryan Guso.
On Tuesday night, the program honored its 10 seniors prior to the 7:30 p.m. match. Patrick Harrigan, Bobby Wurtz, Gonzalez, Davis DeFontes, Patrick Reyes, Patrick Lenihan, Landon Kern, Mike Hay, Peter Bergum and Ethan Hallowell were all recognized pre game.
Senior night started off promising for Fordham as the team led 4-3 after the first quarter on goals from Gonzalez, Delgado, Simmons and Wurtz. St. Francis tied it in the second quarter and the game headed to halftime deadlocked at four.
The second half was not as kind to the Rams as St. Francis outscored Fordham 4-3 in the third quarter and 2-1 in the fourth quarter to go on to win 10-8.
Fordham’s second half goals were scored by sophomore Cameron Shewcuk, Hallowell, Lenihan and Reyes.
