BRONX, N.Y. – The No. 20 Navy water polo team (5-6, 1-1 MAWPC) dropped a 17-10 decision to No. 16 Fordham (9-3, 3-0 MAWPC) at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center in the Bronx, N.Y. Nine different players accounted for the Mids' 10 goals.
 
"We did not play particularly well today," head coach Luis Nicolao said of his team. "We were never able to get into a good rhythm offensively. We made too many mistakes, which you can't do against a good team. Credit to Fordham. They played hard today. We will look at the film and continue to improve."
 
Offensively, Navy tallied 10 goals from nine different players. Senior captain Isaac Salinas (Spring City, Pa.) led the offense with two goals, while Jake Altmayer (Pasadena, Calif.), Payton Comstock (Clarendon Hills, Ill.), Nathan Duchez (San Jose, Calif.), Peter Hillen (Orinda, Calif.), Hayden Kahn (San Clemente, Calif.), Tommy McKnew (Tiburon, Calif.), Erik Nordquist (San Diego, Calif.), and Kyle Yelensky (Stamford, Conn.) each added scores. Altmayer and Will Clark (Laguna Beach, Calif.) paced the team with two assists apiece.
 
Defensively, the Midshipmen used a pair of goalies. Caden Capobianco (Laguna Beach, Calif.) worked the first half, while Max Sandberg (Newport Beach, Calif.) was between the posts in the second. Capobianco tallied six saves, while surrendering nine goals. Sandberg finished with seven stops, while allowing eight scores. Sandberg and Kahn led the team with two steals apiece.
 
In the first quarter, Fordham jumped out to a 4-1 advantage. The Rams scored the first two goals before Duchez put the Mids on the scoreboard with a goal. The hosts responded with two more scores to close out the period with a three-goal lead. Comstock opened the second quarter with a goal, but the Rams answered. Kahn and Nordquist scored, but the Rams found the back of the net three more times to end the half in front 9-4.
 
Hillen began the second half with a goal and Altmayer trimmed the margin to four, 10-6, but Fordham responded with back-to-back goals to push the lead to six. Salinas closed the gap to five with his first goal, but the Rams scored just before the end of the quarter. Following a Fordham goal to start the fourth, Salinas, McKnew, and Yelensky combined to score three of the next four goals to pull to within five, 15-10. The Mids would get no closer as the Rams scored two goals to provide the final score of 17-10.
 
Navy continues its roadswing as the Midshipmen head west to California for the Gary Troyer Tournament. The Mids will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Biola, and Santa Clara in the tournament before playing UCLA and San Jose State in Los Angeles.