LEWISBURG, Pa. — Behind a big offensive attack, the No. 15-ranked Fordham University water polo team punched its ticket into the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship match for the third straight season with a 23-12 win over the Wagner College Seahawks at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
Fordham came out of the gate firing in the first quarter, scoring the opening five goals of the game, two of which came from Barnabas Eppel. Eppel later completed a first quarter hat trick, as the Rams led 7-3 after the opening frame.
The Rams extended the lead in the second quarter to seven, leading 13-7 at halftime. Christos Loupakis and Lucas Nieto Jasny each netted their second goal of the contest in the period with Jacopo Parrella completing a first half hat trick. George Papanikolaou and Luca Silvestri also scored for Fordham.
Though the Seahawks netted five markers in the third quarter, Fordham answered with six to once again increase the lead to seven, 18-11.
Fordham closed out the match with another five-goal period in the fourth quarter for the 23-12 victory.
For Fordham, Parrella netted a match-high five goals to go with three assists, while Nieto Jasny had three goals and four assists. Eppel had four goals in the match with Loupakis having three. Silvestri and Paul Armingol had two goals apiece with the remaining markers coming from Papanikolaou, Balazs Berenyi, Christopher Gray and Reid Thorson. In net, Thomas Lercari recorded 10 saves in three-plus quarters of work to go with an assist, a steal, and a penalty block.
Fordham looks to retain their MAWPC Championship and become the first East Coast team to win three consecutive championships since the United States Naval Academy did so from 2006-08 on Sunday afternoon at Noon, when they meet the No. 18 Midshipmen. Wagner College will compete for Third Place at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 19, against the host Bison which dropped a 10-9 contest to the Mids in the other semifinal.
Release courtesy Fordham University Athletics Communications
