LEXINGTON, VA — The Iona College women’s water polo team completed two contest on Sunday afternoon. The team dropped the first match against Wagner, 14-8, followed by a game with Marist, resulting in a 19-10 lose.
Against the Seahawks, junior Rebecca Mathews and freshman Hannah Schultz led Iona with two goals each, while freshman Paige Neary, sophomore Rebecca Koshy, freshman Brittany Toro and junior Meghan Mahoney hit one each. Junior Dana Delucchi recorded three saves for the match and freshman Britten Vilander had six. On defense, junior Dana Andrea logged a steal and drew two kickouts.
Wagner struck the first two of the match, but Koshy put the Gaels on the board with a power play goal at 4:22 left in the first period. A 1:08 later Neary knotted the game to 2-2 with an assist from Andrea. Wagner answered with two, finishing the first period with a 4-2 lead.
Mahoney hit the back of the net 2:21 into the second period, but Wagner replied with a goal. Mathews pulled two, one at 3:29 and the other at 0:38 left in the second, tying the score. Wagner returned to the lead with one for remainder of the period, leaving the score at 6-5.
The Gaels saw no goals at the start of the second half, giving up four to the Seahawks in the third and another two at the start of the fourth before Schultz took a goal on a power play at 3:50 into the period. Iona saw two more goals in the last period, another from Schultz and one from Toro.
Although Iona won possession in all four swimoffs, with three coming from Andrea, they gave away the third period. Coach Brian Kelly stated, “A bad third killed us. You can’t give a quarter away versus one of he best teams in the country. It’s a 6-5 half, then 10-5 after three. We almost had as many turnovers as shots.”
In their match against Marist, senior Jordan Carmody, Mahoney, and Schultz led the team with two goals each. Neary, Koshy, Toro and Mathews each recorded one for the contest. Senior goalie Devin Green took the lose for Iona with ten saves, while Delucchi and Vilander recorded two saves each.
On the Gaels’ opening possession, Neary found the back of the net just 27 seconds into the match, but Marist replied just 13 ticks later for a 1-1 tie. The Red Foxes continued their lead with three more straight goals. Schultz struck the net with 1:01 left, but Marist took one last goal before the first ended at 5-2, Marist.
Andrea won the swimoff for the second period before Carmody pulled the first goal of the period. Iona recorded three more goals, with two coming from Mahoney and the other from Mathews. Marist kept the lead by making five goals for the period, which ended at 10-6.
The Maroon & Gold pulled one goal in the third, from Koshy with an assist with Carmody. The fourth saw Carmody, Schultz and Toro take the only three scored by Iona in the fourth. The game ended with Marist taking the win with a final score of 19-10.
The Gaels return to the pool for a match-up with St. Francis on Thursday, Apr. 2 at 7:00pm.