By Maria Trivelpiece

Diego Delgado netted the final Fordham goal of the game in the Rams’ 8-7 win over #18 George Washington. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)

The Fordham University men’s water polo team had high expectations coming into this season. After this weekend they are living up to their standards set weeks ago. The team started their MAWPC Conference play on Saturday in Maryland defeating Navy and John Hopkins in two close matches. They followed that with a victory over #18 George Washington.

Graduate student attacker Massimiliano Mirachi and sophomore driver Jake Miller-Tolt led the Rams to victory combining for nine goals and 11 steals. However, Fordham’s battles were not over yet. Following their two matches on Saturday, the Rams had yet another match scheduled against nationally ranked George Washington University on Sunday in Washington, D.C.

The Rams had not beaten a ranked opponent since 2010; and George Washington University, currently standing at #18, was not going to be an easy battle.

“GW is a great team with a new head coach,” said senior driver Ethan Vandventer. “They are paced on offense by several European players. The team as a whole have been averaging in the double digits in goals this season.”

But Fordham came out strong. After three quarters of play, both squads had posted five goals. The Rams were not just managing the Colonials of George Washington, but giving them a great game.

In the fourth quarter, the Rams had an offensive outburst, led by Mirachi that put them up 8-5. But Fordham was still not in the clear. A few defensive mishaps put George Washington within one goal of Fordham in the final minutes of the match. But the battling Rams held on to the lead and walked away with a tremendous upset over one of the best water polo teams in the country.

“We were able to overcome the strong George Washington offense by playing consistent team defense and coming up some crucial field blocks and saves by our goalie [senior Alex Jahns],” said Vendeventer. “It was a team effort, and our run in the third and fourth quarter became key.”

Vandeventer himself had some key steals and ejections that his team converted. Miller-Tolt had a goal, three assists, and two steals; and Jahns was stellar in goal with 13 stops. Mirachi dominated the offense once again, scoring six goals in the victory; and junior utility player Diego Delgado added a goal for the Rams.

After their performance this weekend, the Fordham University men’s water polo team improves to 3-0 in conference play and 6-3 on the season. They will travel to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania next Sunday where they will take on Bucknell University in MAWPC play. Following the match at Bucknell, the team will head out to California for two non-conference matches with Redlands and Mt. San Antonio.

The Rams will not play at home until Oct. 18 when they take on Wagner University, but the countdown is on to see this firey team in action. The journey to a conference championship seems to get a little shorter every  day for Fordham and with these rowdy Rams, it will be amazing to see what they will do in the pool.