ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Player of the Game Barnabas Eppel (So., Budapest, Hungary/Budenz Jozsef Alapitvanyi Gimnazium) scored four times and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Rookie of the Year Luca Provenziani (Fr., Rome, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Statale Isaaco Newton) contributed five markers as No. 3-ranked/MAWPC regular season champion Fordham University withstood Wagner College, 19-11, to reach the 2024 MAWPC Championship title game.
The 2021, 2022 and 2023 MAWPC Champion Rams (30-0, 16-0 MAWPC) will return to the water at the United States Naval Academy’s Lejeune Hall on Sunday, November 24, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern to face the victor of a semifinal matching George Washington University versus the host/No. 20 Midshipmen for the league championship and automatic berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship at Stanford University. Wagner (16-17, 9-7 MAWPC) will take on the fallen from the Revolutionaries/Midshipmen contest at Noon for Third Place.
The lone undefeated team in NCAA men’s water polo this season, Fordham struggled to deal with the Seahawks in the first quarter as Wagner held a 4-3 lead after eight minutes of competition. The Rams began to find their way in the second quarter by outscoring the Seahawks 6-2 prior to notching 5-3 and 5-2 scoring advantages in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
Fordham – which dispatched Wagner by 17-6 and 20-8 scores during the regular season – put away an icebreaker with 6:12 left on the first quarter clock as James Oriskovich (Gr., Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos/University of California-Santa Barbara) provided the Rams a 1-0 lead.
Wagner turned the tables on Fordham as Eliot Alvarez (Jr., San Leandro, Calif./San Leandro) (5:53), Matt Wedlock (Fr., Saint Louis, Mo./Kirkwood) (4:42, man-up) and Kyle Chambers (Sr., Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) (3:00) ticked off back-to-back-to-back goals as the Seahawks soared out to a 3-1 margin.
Fordham responded as Eppel delivered natural (2:19) and man-up (1:32) markers to balance the scoreboard at three-all prior to Smith Connors (Fr., Brisbane, Australia/Good Shepard Lutheran College) answering at the 1:16 mark to allow Wagner to reacquire the lead at 4-3.
However, the squad from the Bronx began to rumble as Jacopo Parrella (Sr., Naples, Italy/Umberto I State Classical) and Provenziani stuffed in shots at 6:53 and 6:04, respectively, to stake the Rams to a 5-4 lead. Eppel expanded the margin to a pair scores at 6-4 by cashing in a man-up bid at 3:57 before Kristian Stanczewski (Sr., Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) (3:41) and Chambers (2:14, man-up) rebalanced the scoreboard at six-all.
Fordham went in front to stay during the closing 85 seconds of the first half/second quarter as Eppel (1:25), Andras Toth (Fr., Pecs, Hungary/PTE Babits Gyakorio Gimnazium) (1:04) and Provenziani (29 seconds) beat Wagner goalie Filip Petrovic (Fr., Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) with a trio of strikes to push the Rams ahead 9-6 through 16 minutes of action.
The lead continued to grow in the first two minutes of the third quarter thanks to Provenziani who swished a penalty shot (7:37) and back-to-back even-strength markers (6:46, 6:16) to double-up Wagner at 12-6. Matan Friedenberg (Fr., Tel Aviv, Israel/Alliance) terminated the six-goal outburst with a score for Wagner at 6:04, but Parrella dented the string at 4:21 to enalarge the lead to 13-7.
Stanczewski (3:31, man-up) and Alvarez (1:05, man-up) sandwiched an even-strength tally from Tyler Fahey (Fr., Darien, Conn./Darien) at 2:30 to close the gap between the two New York institutions to 14-9 through 24 minutes of play.
The lead continued to grow throughout the fourth quarter as Balazs Berenyi (Jr., Budapest, Hungary/BME Secondary Grammar School) (6:33, man-up), Parrella (5:25, penalty shot), Brendan Cassidy (Jr., San Rafael, Calif./Marin Catholic) (4:51, penalty shot) and Marco Napolitano (Gr., Naples, Italy/Istituto Sacro Cuore) (3:16, 2:21) combined for a five-score outburst to put Fordham ahead by double-digits at 19-39 with approaching two minutes to play in regulation.
Chambers shaved the final deficit back into single digits before the contest’s concluding horn as he tossed in a response with 1:53 on the clock to establish the 19-11 final score.
For Fordham. – which has previously claimed First (2021, 2022, 2023), Third (2016) and Fourth (2017, 2018, 2019) Place marks in the MAWPC – Provenziani (five), Eppel (four), Parrella (three) and Napolitano (two) notched multi-goal games to combine for 14 of the Rams’ 19 strikes. Toth, Cassidy, Fahey, Oriskovich and Berenyi contributed the remainder of the Rams’ offense in support of a 10 save effort by 2024 MAWPC Most Valuable Player/goalkeeper Thomas Lercari (Sr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes).
Wagner – which holds prior Second (2017), Third (2018), Fourth (2021, 2023) and Fifth (2016, 2019) Place finishes at the MAWPC Championship – received four goals by Chambers to accompany pairs courtesy Alvarez and Stanczewski. Connors, Oriskovich and Berenyi garnered single scores in support of a combined six save effort from Petrovic and Ian Conway (Fr., Saint Louis, Mo./Parkway Central).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Wagner College |
4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | 11 |
| No. 3 Fordham University | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | – | 19 |
| Fordham Goals: | Luca Provenziani (5); Barnabas Eppel (4); Jacopo Parrella (3); Marco Napolitano (2); Andras Toth; Brendan Cassidy; Tyler Fahey; James Oriskovich; Balazs Berenyi | |||||
| Wagner Goals: | Kyle Chambers (4); Eliot Alvarez (2); Kristian Stanczewski (2); Smith Connors; Matan Friedenberg; Matt Wedlock | |||||
| Saves: | Fordham – Thomas Lercari (10) ; Wagner – Filip Petrovic (4, 16 minutes), Ian Conway (2, 16 minutes) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Fordham – 10 ; Wagner – 15 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Fordham – 5-for-15 ; Wagner – 5-for-10 | |||||
| Sprints: | Fordham – 4-for-4 ; Wagner – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | Wagner – YC (Head coach Josh Hower, 6:53 left in 2nd Q); Wagner – YC (Bench, 4:54 left in 2nd Q); YC – Fordham (Head coach Brian Bacharach, 1:05 left in 3rd Q); MD – Wagner (Matan Friedenberg, 39 seconds left in 3rd Q); MD – Fordham (Andras Toth, 39 seconds left in 3rd Q); MD – Wagner (Luis Camino Sosa, 5:25 left in 4th Q); RC – Wagner (Luis Camino Sosa, 5:25 left in 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Alex Larin, Jim Lewis | |||||
Fordham University’s Luca Provenziani (#18) drives past Wagner College’s Patrick Ray (#14)
Wagner College’s Patrick Ray (#14) attempts to get a pass over Fordham University’s Andras Toth (#20)
Wagner College’s defends Fordham University’s Luca Silvestri (#8)
Fordham University’s Luca Silvestri (#8) & Wagner College’s Matt Wedlock (#6)
