[BRONX, NY] November 6 – Down 6-1 in the first quarter, the Iona men's water polo team outscored No. 16 Fordham University 7-6 over the rest of match in a 12-8 loss as the Rams retained the Judge Cup for a second straight season.  Fordham now leads the all-time series, 5-3.

Sophomore Justin Ginsberg led the Gaels with two goals.  Senior co-captain Quinn Lloyd, senior co-captain Phil Wachowski, junior Andrew Brozovic, junior Bret Hofer, redshirt-junior Daniel Savage and sophomore German Rodriguez scored on goal apiece. Iona made four assists and has 29 total shots.

In goal, senior Jorge Andres Torres made six saves on 25 Fordham shots. In the final 1:50, senior Michael Banks made one save on one shot. Iona forced 12 Fordham kickouts, while being ejected six times. Ginsburg was disqualified with three ejections.  

Fordham got on the board first with 13 seconds gone in the match.  The Rams added four straight goals for a 5-0 advantage with 2:50 left in the opening period. With 30 seconds left, Lloyd ended the Iona offensive drought, but Fordham answered 20 ticks later for a 6-1 lead going into the second period.

Ginsburg needed only 20 seconds into the second quarter to trim the home lead to four. With two more consecutive goals in the next 2:06, Fordham mounted a six-goal, 8-2, lead.  Ginsburg's second score with 1:32 remaining narrowed the Rams edge back to five at intermission.  

Just 55 seconds into the third period, Brozovic found the back of the net to pull Iona within four, 8-4.  Wachowski continued the Gaels three-goal run three.  Taking advantage of a man-up chance, Fordham ended the Iona rally for a four-goal, 9-5, lead with 3:40 remaining.   The hosts tacked on another score with 55 ticks on the clock to lead 10-5 going into the final period.

With the Gaels first man-up score of the match, Hofer got Iona back within four 10-6 with 5:22 remaining. The Rams added two straight goals to lead 12-6 with 3:56 left, while Savage and Rodriguez scored for Iona in the final 30 seconds. 

The Cup is named after Dr. Francis X. Judge, a water polo pioneer at Fordham, and the founder of the Hudson Valley Water Polo Club.

Dr. Judge was the father of five Iona water polo players, including three Goal Club Hall of Famers: Greg '84 (HOF '03) and volunteer assistant coach, Matt '86 (HOF '09), Ray '87 (HOF '09), Mike '94 and Kevin '95. Chris '80 (Fordham HOF '96), his second oldest son, starred for Fordham, and also coached the team.

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On Saturday, the Gaels wrap up their regular season with a Northeast Water Polo Conference match at Princeton University at noon.