BRONX, N.Y. – The Navy water polo team (8-4, 2-1 MAWPC) finished the weekend 2-0 after posting a 9-8 victory over Fordham (4-8, 0-4) on Sunday afternoon at Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center in the Bronx, N.Y. With the win and a victory over La Salle on Saturday, the Midshipmen improve to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference.
 
"This was a great weekend for Navy water polo," head coach Luis Nicolao "The team fought hard and came away with two big conference victories. This weekend will give us confidence as we continue the conference season. These games will come up big for us moving forward for seeding in the conference tournament later this year. We are going to enjoy these victories tonight and then it is back to work next week."
 
Navy was once again led by Isaac Salinas (Spring City, Pa.) and Bobby Lee (Santa Ana, Calif.) Salinas paced the offense with a team-high four points (3g 1a), while Lee followed with three goals for his second hat trick of the weekend. Trevor Clark (San Marcos, Calif.), Cole Jacobs (Naperville, Ill.), and Crawford Smith (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) each added goals in the game.
 
Ronan Williams (Severna Park, Md.) came up big for the Midshipmen at goal. The junior limited the Rams to under 10 goals, while boasting 11 saves in the game. It is the second time this season that Williams has notched double-digit saves against Fordham. He finished with 15 stops against the Rams at the Navy Open the first weekend of the season. Williams is averaging 13 saves per game against Fordham this season.
 
Navy opened the game with back-to-back goals to take an early 2-0 advantage. Salinas put the Mids on the scoreboard and Lee followed with his first goal of the day. Fordham responded with a pair of goals to knot the score as the first quarter ended. The Rams continued their run with two goals to start the second quarter to give the home team a 4-2 advantage. The Midshipmen responded with goals by Salinas and Lee to tie the game at four before halftime.
 
The Mids rattled off three straight goals to start the third quarter. Lee opened the scoring and Clark followed with his first goal of the weekend. Jacobs closed out the run with a monster goal to push the lead to 7-4. The Rams used a goal just before the buzzer sounded to close the gap to 7-5 heading to the fourth quarter. In the final frame, Nate Reiff (Wheeling, Ill.) won the sprint and kicked the ball to Salinas for the no-look goal. Fordham responded with back-to-back goals to cut the Navy advantage to one, 8-7. At the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Smith skimmed the ball off the water into the near side of the goal for what proved to be the game-winning goal. Fordham scored with 11 seconds remaining in regulation to provide the final margin, 9-8.
 
Navy returns to action next weekend with three MAWPC games, including a pair of home games. The Midshipmen host La Salle on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 p.m. before playing at Johns Hopkins on Friday morning (10:00 a.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 29. The Mids close the weekend at Lejeune Hall against nationally-ranked Bucknell on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. The game against the Bison will be live streamed on the Patriot League Network.