At Fordham, Where Lombardi Once Ruled, Water Polo is Now King
BRONX, NY. When it comes to sports at Fordham University’s campus in the Bronx, football is legendary. Vince Lombardi, arguably the gold standard for the sport in America, is a Ram icon. He anchored the famed Seven Blocks of Granite line from the greatest athletic teams in Fordham history before leading the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships and two Super Bowl wins.
Those halcyon days occurred decades ago. In the meantime, collegiate football has morphed into a fast-paced, high stakes endeavor that has left the Rams, and their illustrious legacy, far in the review mirror.
When it comes to fast-paced, high-stakes sports on Rose Hill, water polo—a sport popular in California but virtually unknown in New York—is now the first choice of Fordham faithful. And their men’s team, led by California transplant Brian Bacharach, has rewarded them. Handsomely—and far more than any current sports program on campus.
Do Fordham fans come out like this for football? A shot of the balcony at Colonel Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center for Princeton vs. Fordham. Photo: M. Randazzo
Last year the Rams became the first team to ever emerge undefeated from the East entering NCAA tournament play. Fordham finished 32-1 in 2024, the only blemish a thrilling effort against USC, one of the country’s top polo programs. The Trojans outlasted the boys from the Bronx in an NCAA semifinal, emerging with an 18-16 decision in overtime.
[#3 Water Polo Falls in OT to #2 USC at NCAA Championship]
To prepare his team for what he hopes will be another deep NCAA run, Bacharach has upped the quality of this year’s opponents, including East Coast rival Princeton, which traveled north on Saturday morning for a match at Fordham’s Colonel Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center.
Fordham football was also on the docked for a beautiful fall afternoon, with the Rams facing Holy Cross, a fellow Jesuit institution known more for academics—and Bob Cousy, an all-time NBA player with the Boston Celtics—than play with the pigskin.
When informally polled, fans in the Messmore student section were all in for polo: “They’re the nation’s # 5 team… [and] football stinks”
“I love to schedule games with football in mind because it brings more people to campus,” Bacharach, the Fordham coach, said after the match. “It creates an atmosphere on campus, there's going to be 10,000 football fans here. Our water polo [stands are] packed.
“You can't beat that environment on a college campus,” he added.
The host team fell behind early but in front of a balcony packed with their fans, the Rams roared back in an electrifying third period, emerging with a 19-16 decision. Leading the way for Fordham was Andreas Toth with six goals, while Allesandro Salipante contributed two fourth period tallies to keep the visitors at bay. Princeton enjoyed a more balanced scoring attack; Tas Palcza tallied three times while Taylor Bell, Luke Johnson, JP Ohl and Adam Peocz scored two goals each.
Saturday’s performance showed why the Rams are among the nation’s best. #13 Princeton, just returned from a trip West where they played in the MPSF Invite, the nation’s premier in-season collegiate tournament, raced out to an early lead. Not much rust was evident from their travels where they went 2-2 against the West’s best, dropping an OT decision to # 7 UC San Diego and losing to #11 Pepperdine.
Princeton coach Dustin Litvak looks on as the Rams rally against his Tigers. Photo: M. Randazzo
After the Tigers went up 11-8 just after halftime, Fordham fans were elated when Toth and Barnabas Eppel combined for four of the Rams’ six scores in the third period, punctuated by Eppel’s brilliant backhand shot that stunned the Princeton defense and gave the home team a one goal lead heading into the last quarter.
Bacharach’s team did not let up, countering every Tiger tally with one of their own, until, with a minute left and his team down by two goals, Princeton Head Coach Dustin Litvak played for a quick score by pushing his team up on offense. The move backfired; Toth broke free with the ball and—after forcing Tiger goalie Kristóf Kovács to commit a penalty—he converted the penalty shot for an insurmountable lead.
Afterwards, Princeton’s Litvak downplayed the result and put his team’s season-long development in perspective.
Fordham hasn’t seen trophies like this—a semifinalist for 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament—since the 1930’s when Vince Lombardi was on Rose Hill. Photo: M. Randazzo
“Our yardstick is ourselves right now; we took some bumps on the West Coast but played good teams,” he said. “Obviously our defense needs a lot of work—and what better place to test your defense than a team like Fordham?
“We did a lot of things really well today, but we also struggled in some areas; we have to go work and improve and, for us, that's really about late November and trying to get back into [NCAA’s] in California.”
These teams are not done yet. A month from now the Rams and Tigers will meet again in Princeton, a match that will almost certainly determine which Eastern team has the best chance in the postseason.
For now, the rivalry, and his team’s success on the formerly football-mad campus, are what impress Fordham’s coach.
“Hopefully one of us can put a national championship to make the rivalry a little bit more competitive or nationally relevant,” Bacharach said. “But at the same time for the East Coast, this is one of the biggest games of the year; the fans were here, the kids were into it, and I think it lived up to the hype….”
Time will tell, but the future of this rivalry—and East Coast water polo—appears brighter than ever.