NEW YORK, NY –Iona College men’s water polo picked up their first win of the year, splitting day two of the Navy Open. The Gaels fell up just short against Mount San Antonio College, falling 12-10, but rebounded against Penn State University Behrend with an 18-7 win.
Game 1 vs. Mount San Antonio College
In a game featuring five lead changes and five ties, the Iona men’s water polo team lost its third straight game in a 12-10 defeat to Mount San Antonio College (Walnut, CA) in the third of four matches this weekend at the 2015 Navy Open hosted by the United States Naval Academy.
Junior Hudson Grieve and sophomore Zach Roper led the Gaels (0-3) with two goals each. Junior Chris Ellis, junior Rafael Romero, junior Patrick Dougherty, sophomore Marc Stauble, freshman Andres Guerra and freshman Alex Guerra scored one goal apiece.
In goal, senior Matt McCrudden had four saves and freshman Anthony Zdanavicius had two. On defense, the Gaels made 18 steals, five by Ellis, and drew eight kickouts, three by Stauble. On offense, Iona committed 16 turnovers.
With 2:19 gone in the match, Roper put the Gaels on the board, followed by Ellis 33 seconds later for a 2-0 Iona lead. The Mounties answered with 2:06 left in the first, but Dougherty’s one-meter goal gave Iona a 3-1 lead with 58 ticks on the clock. Mount San Antonio pulled with one 3-2 as the first period ended.
The Mounties struck again just 37 seconds into the second period to tie the match at three, then pulled ahead 4-3 at the 6:37 mark. Stauble needed only 26 seconds to retie the score at four each, followed by Roper’s second goal as Iona regained the lead 5-4 with 4:40 to go. The Mounties retied the scored at five, just 25 seconds later, then went back on top 6-5 with 11 seconds before the halftime buzzer.
The Gaels scored twice on goals by Grieve and Andres Guerra in the opening minutes of the third period to pull ahead 7-6 at the 5:31 mark. Three unanswered Mount San Antonio goals gave the Mountains a 9-7 lead with 3:17 left. Romero scored on McCrudden’s lead-pass assist at the 1:08 mark, but the Mounties went ahead 10-8 as the third period ended.
Alex Guerra only needed a minute to pull Iona within one 10-9, but Grieve inadvertently tipped the ball into the wrong goal to put the Mounties up 11-9 with 5:20 left. After the Mounties increased their lead to 12-9, another McCrudden assist led to Grieve’s goal with 1:54 left, which trimmed the Gaels deficit to two. Three last-minute Gael shots missed their marks as Mount San Antonio held on for the win.
Game 2 vs. Pennsylvania State University Behrend
With thirteen Gaels scoring goals, the Iona men’s water polo team earned its first win of the season with a 18-7 victory over Pennsylvania State University Behrend in the last of four matches this weekend at the 2015 Navy Open hosted by the United States Naval Academy.
Junior Marc Stauble led Iona (1-3) with three goals. Junior Hudson Grieve, junior Rafael Romero and junior Dan Fleck scored two each. Sophomore Zach Roper, sophomore Jonathan Hulbert, sophomore Pat Judge, sophomore Jay Pagano, freshman Andres Guerra, freshman Alex Guerra, freshman Spencer Anthony, freshman Roche Pretorius, freshman Bailey Lyons added one goal each.
In goal, senior Matt McCrudden had two saves and freshman Anthony Zdanavicius had 12 saves. On defense, the Gaels made 12 steals and drew six kickout ejections.
PSUB struck first with 2:05 gone in the match, but Grieve tied the score at one 55 seconds later. The Lions regained the lead with 1:53 remaining in the first period, then two straight Iona goals from Romero and Stauble gave the Gaels a 3-2 lead going into the second quarter.
Iona took off on a 3-0 run in the first two minutes of the second period with Roper, Alex Guerra and Fleck putting the Gaels up 6-2. But the Lions answered with two straight goals to pull within two 6-4 with 4:50 remaining. In the closing 4:35, Grieve, Andres Guerra and Romero gave the Gaels another 3-0 run to lead 9-4 at intermission.
The Gaels continued to click on both sides of the pool in the third quarter with four unanswered goals as Stauble scored twice and Judge and Hulbert added one each to lead 13-4 going into the final period. Iona outscored PSUB in the fourth quarter 5-3 as Pretorius, Pagano, Fleck, Lyons and Anthony adding one goal each for the win.
Now in his twenty-first season at the helm, Iona head coach Brian Kelly was pleased with his squad’s first season win and saw potential for the team to grow as the season progresses.
“It was nice to get our first win,” Kelly said. “We’re looking to build off what worked and what didn’t work for us on this past weekend. We’ll be a much better team as we head to Princeton.”
Next weekend the Gaels travel to Princeton University for matches against Diablo Valley College, Santa Clara University and Pacific University at the 2015 Princeton Invite on Friday night and Saturday.