Despite a tumultuous start to their season (6-16 record), the Fordham University men’s water polo team is still in a good position to make a late season run at the Eastern Championships.

The team has struggled primarily with replacing the talent from last year’s squad. The Rams lost their two leading scorers from last season, All-Americans Ali Arat, Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA) ’11, and Ryan Hultman, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’11, to graduation. Arat led the team in points (102) and goals (91), while Hultman was second in points (50) and third in goals (32).

While trying to make up for these losses, it hasn’t helped that ` the Rams have struck by a bad case of the injury bug. Rams head coach Bill Harris said, “We have had some serious injuries. One of our top recruits, Charlie Reed, has yet to play in a game and hopefully he gets in the water.”

The injuries have cost the Rams more than just the scoring ability of those players. The team has also suffered by lack of numbers in their lineup. Harris said, “The lack of depth has really hurt us. We have been ahead in games and we usually relinquish the lead in the second half. Because we don’t have enough quality players coming off the bench, the guys get fatigued.”

However, the Rams head coach does not feel the team’s record is reflective of their play to this point in the season. “Everything considered, this is one of the hardest working teams I’ve ever had,” Harris said. “Overall we played a lot of top 20 teams. We’re not in bad shape in our conference and we are still in running to get to Easterns [Conference Championships], which is our goal.”

One of the major bright spots on the team has been driver Robert Flemming, FCRH ’12. Flemming has asserted himself on offense and currently leads the team in goals (45) through the first 22 games. Flemming’s strong play this season was recognized when he earned the honor of Northern Division Player of the Week on Sept. 27. In the two games he played that week, he scored nine goals, two of them being game-winners, and added five steals. Harris said of his leading scorer, “Bobby’s been terrific for us. He’s been scoring more and he’s been really aggressive in the water. He’s been a leader on this team and we’re going to miss him because this is his last year.”

Harris added that he felt the team’s “never say die attitude” was one of their biggest strengths. The head coach said, “Everyone really supports each other. It’s been a tough season and we haven’t gotten a lot of wins but they never quit. It’s a good group of guys and I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished so far.”

Of the team’s 16 losses, seven of them have come against teams ranked in the top 20. The team can put those games behind them, as none of their four remaining opponents rank inside the top 20. However, these are the games that will matter the most. The final two games of the season are conference games against Iona and Connecticut College. The Rams will need to perform well in these games if their hopes of a late season run are to be realized.

Harris said, “We have a critical game coming up against Iona which will establish who we play in the Northern Conference Championships. As far as how we do in the Easterns, I’m going to take it one step at a time. Our mission right now is to get there. And it’s going to be a challenge but I think we have a good shot. We’ll play either MIT, Iona or Harvard in first game of the Conference championships and if we win, we go to top eight in the east, which is what we’re shooting for.”