No. 3 Fordham University Upends No. 20 United States Naval Academy, 18-11, to Claim Fourth Consecutive/2024 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship

No. 20 United States Naval Academy-vs.-No. 3 Fordham University Scoresheet (2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship – Game #12/First Place)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Undefeated and No. 3-ranked Fordham University jumped ahead 2-0 91 seconds into the game and never trailed versus No. 20/host the United States Naval Academy as the now 31-0 Rams butted the Midshipmen by an 18-11 score at Lejeune Hall to capture the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship and an automatic berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship on December 6-8 at Stanford University.

Fordham (31-0, 17-0 MAWPC) equals Bucknell University (1977-to-80) and the University of Massachusetts (1993-to-1996) of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) and the current Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Champion Tigers of Princeton University (2021-to-24) as the only CWPA/MAWPC/NWPC men’s institutions to capture four consecutive conference championships. In the history of the league(s), no men’s team has won five or more consecutive championships – a record that both Fordham and NWPC champion Princeton will seek to shatter in 2025.

The loss continues a drought of crowns for Navy (22-10, 12-5 MAWPC) as the Midshipmen have not tasted victory in a conference title game since 2008 when the squad took down Princeton University and Dick Russell Coach of the Tournament Luis Nicolao by a 9-6 count at home in Lejeune Hall for the CWPA throne.

A nine-time league champion (1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008) and eight-time runner-up (1984, 1991, 1994, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011) under CWPA Hall of Fame member Mike Schofield, Navy’s title game clash with the Rams marked the third meeting of the programs for the championship since 2021. In Annapolis under Nicolao, the Midshipmen fell to Fordham by a 9-6 count for the 2021 league crown. Last year at Bucknell, Navy once again came up short versus Fordham in a 12-10 title game loss.

In the team’s seven most recent tries at acquiring the MAWPC title, Navy has now claimed Second (2021 at home; 2023 at Bucknell; 2024 at home), Third (2019 at Bucknell), Fifth (2017 at home; 2022 at Fordham) and Sixth (2016 at Bucknell, 2018 at Fordham) Place marks.

Navy, which finished 0-2 versus Fordham during the regular season as the Mids’ dropped 17-11 (September 28 at Fordham) and 18-10 L (November 2 at home) contests to the Rams, was unable to keep pace with a quick start by the visitors as James Oriskovich (Gr., Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos/University of California-Santa Barbara) and Andras Toth (Fr., Pecs, Hungary/PTE Babits Gyakorlo Gimnazium) put away man-up (6:59) and even-strength (6:29) strikes, respectively, to provide the Bronx (N.Y.) squad a 2-0 margin 91 seconds into the contest.

Michael Heller (Sr., Menlo Park, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) erased the Mids’ deficit by rotating the rock into the cage for natural goals with 6:11 and 5:20 remaining in the frame to deadlock the teams at two-all

Jacopo Parrella (Sr., Naples, Italy/Umberto I State Classical) (4:53, man-up) and Quinn Bartlett (Fr., Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) (4:16) exchanged goals as the Rams’ grew to 3-2 and retraced to three-all.

It marked the last time the two teams were tied as Luca Provenziani (Fr., Rome, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Statale Isaaco Newton) (3:53) and Parrella (2:50, penalty shot) cushioned Fordham’s lead to a pair at 5-3. Luka Sekulic (So., Haverford, Pa./The Haverford School) trimmed the margin back to 5-4 with 2:19 left in the contest’s opening eight minutes as the Midshipmen attempted to put together a comeback bid.

The Rams, however, blew the game open as Luca Silvestri (Sr., Napoli, Italy/Istituto Comprensvo Sacro Cuore/Westcliff University) (6:26, man-up; 3:26), Lucas Nieto Jasny (Sr., Barcelona, Spain/Col-legi Closa) (4:26, man-up) and Toth (2:42, penalty shot) combined for a 4-0 surge to acquire a 9-4 lead heading towards halftime. Sekulic snapped the scoring string by torquing in a tally with three seconds left in the second quarter to move Navy within 9-5 at the game’s midpoint.

Silvestri (6:45, man-up) and Barnabas Eppel (So., Budapest, Hungary/Budenz Jozsef Alapitvanyi Gimnazium) (5:18, man-up) commenced the third quarter with back-to-back blasts to inflate Fordham’s advantage on the scoreboard to 11-5.

Maddox Garrahy (Fr., Oceanside, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) and Bartlett got the goals back at 4:53 and 3:51, respectively, to pull the Mids back within four at 11-7.

Provenziani (3:30, penalty shot) and George Papanikolaou (Sr., Athens, Greece/Athens College) (1:43) repeated the pattern of two-goal outbursts by both teams as the Rams’ duo staked Fordham to a 13-7 margin.

Billy Zech (So., Tiburon, Calif./Redwood) closed out the third quarter by lining in a man-up opportunity with 32 second remaining on the clock to set the scoreboard at 13-8 in favor of the Rams heading into the final eight minutes of regulation competition.

Silvestri (7:07, man-up) commenced the scoring in the fourth quarter prior to Kiefer Black (So., San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) (6:38) and Sekulic (6:11, man-up) chipping Fordham’s lead down to four goals at 14-10 for the first time since trailing 11-7 with 3:51 on the third quarter clock.

The Rams had no intention of playing overtime or wasting time before celebrating the squad’s fourth consecutive league championship and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship berth.

Toth (4:28; 2:09, man-up) and Tyler Fahey (Fr. Darien, Conn./Darien) (1:07, man-up; 16 seconds, man-up) combined for a four score surge in the final 4:28 of the fourth quarter to sandwich a concluding blow by Bartlett with 45 ticks left on the clock to establish the 18-11 final score.

For Fordham, Toth (four), Silvestri (four), Parrella (two), Provenziani (two) and Fahey (two) racked up multi-goal games to account for 14 of the Rams’ 18 goals. Nieto Jasny, Eppel, Oriskovich and Papanikolaou accounted for the remainder of the Rams’ offense in support of a 13 save effort by netminder/MAWPC regular season Most Valuable Player Thomas Lercari (Sr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes).

For his performance during a championship weekend in which he compiled eight goals, two assists and six steals in three games, Parrella was named Tournament Most Valuable Player. Fordham head coach Brian Bacharach also rumbles back to the Bronx with hardware as the 2021 and 2023 Dick Russell Coach of the Tournament adds a third honor to his list of accomplishments.

Sekulic (three) and Bartlett (three) led the way for Navy with hat-tricks Heller deposited a pair with Zech, Black and Garrahy chipping in single scores. Tournament Rookie of the Tournament Ryan Munch (Fr., San Diego, Calif./Valhalla) stopped 12 shots in taking the loss to conclude Navy’s 2024 campaign.

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	–	FINAL
No. 3 Fordham University	4	1	3	3	–	11
No. 20 United States Naval Academy	5	4	4	5	–	18

Navy Goals:	Luka Sekulic (3);Owen Bartlett (3); Michael Heller (2); Billy Zech; Kiefer Black; Maddox Garrahy
Fordham Goals:	Andras Toth (4); Luca Silvestri (4); Jacopo Parrella (2); Luca Provenziani (2); Tyer Fahey (2); Luis Nieto Jasny; Barnabas Eppel; James Oriskovich; George Papanikolaou;
Saves:	Navy – Ryan Munch (12) ; Fordham – Thomas Lercari (13)
Exclusions:	Navy – 17 ; Fordham – 19
Advantage Opportunities:	Navy – for-19 ; Fordham – -for-17
Sprints:	Navy – 1-for-4 (1st) ; Fordham – 3-for-4 (2nd, 3rd, 4th)
Cards/Misconducts:	YC – Navy (Head coach Luis Nicolao, 2:52 left in 1st Q); Y/RC – Navy (Head coach Luis Nicolao, 3:31 left in 3rd Q)
Officials:	James Wolff, Alex Larin