ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Iona College men’s water polo team rallied with three unanswered goals and a defensive shutout in the fourth period, but dropped its second match at the CWPA Championship 13-9 to the tenth-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology Saturday afternoon at the United States Naval Academy.
The Gaels were led by three players with two goals apiece, senior Jake Lloyd, sophomore Gerardo Sanchez Rivera and sophomore Hudson Grieve. Seniors Nick Joslyn, Kyle Elmore and Ian Thompson scored one goal each. In goal, senior Mike Pufunt had five saves and junior Matt McCrudden had three, including a five-meter penalty shot.
On defense, Thompson drew five MIT ejections, while Elmore and sophomore Matt Rothman had two steals each.
Although MIT struck first only 1:09 into the match, Thompson tied the score at one 16 seconds later. The Engineers hit two unanswered goals to take a 3-1 advantage with two minutes left, but Elmore narrowed the MIT lead to one at the 1:37 mark. With 23 ticks left in the first period, MIT scored for a 4-2 advantage.
With 1:01 gone in the second period, MIT scored, then Joslyn answered 20 seconds later, as McCrudden replaced Pufunt in the Iona goal. Over the next 1:37, MIT hit three unanswered goals, including a five-meter penalty shot, to lead 8-3. But in the next three minutes, the Iona offense took off with three unanswered goals. Grieve scored twice, followed by Rivera with 53 seconds left. McCrudden blocked a five-meter MIT penalty shot. MIT scored with 43 ticks to go in the second, however, for a 9-6 lead at halftime.
In the third period, MIT recorded four unanswered goals, while the Iona offense failed to score despite a goalie ejection and a steal-breakway opportunity. Pufunt returned to the goal at the 5:19 mark. The Engineers led 13-6 going into the final quarter.
The Gaels hit three unanswered goals in the fourth, while shutting down the MIT offense. Rivera ended the Gaels offensive drought only 47 seconds into the fourth period to trim the Engineers lead to 13-7. Lloyd’s two goals pulled Iona with four 13-9 with 3:47 left, but the rally fell short.
Iona head coach Brian Kelly was disappointed at this squad’s lack of execution on both sides of the ball.
“We had a very simple game plan going into this game on how we wanted to play defensively,” Kelly said. “We spent an entire half not executing our game plan. We allowed nine goals in the first half. You can’t do that in a championship tournament.
“We adjusted at halftime and held them to four goals. You can’t waste an entire half at league championships.”