NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College men’s water polo team dropped a pair of games at the Princeton Invite. The Gaels had matchups against Santa Clara and Pacific, along with an Exhibition matchup against Diablo Valley.
Iona vs. Diablo Valley
The Iona men’s water polo team Friday night dropped an exhibition match 20-8 to Diablo Valley College (CA) in the first of three contests this weekend at the Princeton Invite hosted by Princeton University.
Senior Rafael Romero led Iona (1-3) with three goals, while sophomore Zach Roper scored two. Junior Matt Rothman and junior Patrick Dougherty added one each. In goal, senior Matt McCrudden had four saves and a steal, and freshman Anthony Zdanavicius had four saves.
In the opening three minutes, the Valley Vikings scored three straight goals, which included knocking the ball into its own goal, as Iona trailed 2-1 with 5:02 left. Four more consecutives scores increased DVC’s lead to 6-1 at the 1:48 mark. In the last 90 seconds of the first quarter, the Gaels outscored the Vikings 2-1 on goals from Dougherty and Roper to narrow the gap to 7-3 going into the second period.
Just 1:35 into the second, Rothman pulled Iona within three 7-4, but the Vikings hit two straight to go up 9-4 at the 5:20 mark. Although Romero scored a minute later, DVC added to more goals to lead 11-5 at halftime.
The Vikings started the third quarter with four straight scores until Romero’s second goal followed by Roper’s second score with 28 seconds left, but the Vikings led 15-7 as the final period started. DVC outscored the Gaels 5-0 in the fourth quarter until Romero’s third goal with 57 seconds left to secure the win.
Iona vs. Santa Clara
Even with an improved defensive effort, the Iona men’s water polo team lost 15-6 this morning to Santa Clara University (CA) in the second of three matches this weekend at the 2015 Princeton Invite hosted by Princeton University.
Senior Rafael Romero, junior Matthew Rothman, junior Hudson Grieve, junior Chris Ellis, sophomore Patrick Judge and sophomore Jonathan Hulbert scored one goal each for Iona (1-4). Senior goalie Matt McCrudden had eight saves.
On defense, the Gaels made eight steals with three by sophomore Marc Stauble. Iona drew five Santa Clara ejections, but gave up two five-meter penalty goals.
After a scoreless battle in the opening three minutes, the Santa Clara Broncos reeled off three unanswered goals, despite three McCrudden saves, to lead 3-0 with 3:03 to go in the first period. Iona head coach Brian Kelly called time out to regroup his offense, but several strong shots failed to find the back of the net. The Broncos scored with 2:37 left to lead 4-0 going into the second quarter.
Despite four Gael steals, Santa Clara quickly added two goals for a 6-0 edge until Rothman put Iona on the board at the 4:01 mark. Hulbert’s seven-meter blast narrowed the gap to 7-2 with 1:10 left. The Broncos tacked on another goal with 19 seconds for 8-2 halftime advantage.
Santa Clara hit a five-meter penalty with 1:45 gone in the third, then the Gaels capitalized on two Broncos ejections. At the 4:01 mark, Judge hit on a goalie-out 6-5 advantage, and Grieve scored on another 6-on-5, as Iona pulled within four 8-4 with 2:50 left in the third period. In the closing minute, Santa Clara scored two straight goals for a 10-6 margin going into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Santa Clara outscored Iona 5-2 with Gael goals from Ellis and Romero.
Iona vs. Pacific
In a valiant effort against a nationally ranked California squad, the Iona men’s water polo team lost 20-3 to the University of the Pacific this afternoon in the last of three matches this weekend in the 2015 Princeton Invite hosted by Princeton University.
Senior Rafael Romero, junior Matthew Rothman and junior Zach Roper scored one goal each for Iona (1-5). Senior goalie Matt McCrudden had nine saves in the first three quarters, and freshman Anthony Zdanavicius had two saves. On defense, sophomore Marc Stauble had three of the Gaels six steals. Iona failed to draw a Pacific ejection.
In the first five minutes of the match, the number-five ranked Tigers scored five consecutive goals, until Roper put Iona on the board with 2:58 left. After Pacific capitalized on a 6-5 advantage, Romero hit the back of the net to narrow the Tiger lead to 6-2. In the final minute of the quarter, Pacific scored twice for a 8-2 advantage.
The Gaels held the Tigers to two goals in the second period, but failed to score as Pacific led 10-2 at intermission. In the third period, Pacific scored four unanswered goals, while Iona failed to find the back of the net. The Tigers recorded five more goals in the final period, while Rothman scored for Iona with 6:45 left.
Despite the weekend’s three losses, Kelly, now in his 21st year at the helm, saw positive lessons from playing top-level teams.
“It’s always fun to play against one of the better teams in the country,” Kelly said. “We learned a lot. We played against two teams – Santa Clara and DVC – that do not have many weaknesses. And then we played against a team in Pacific that is trying to win a national championship.”
“We played very well in spots, and we had a lot of positives coming out of this tournament.”
The Gaels will face St. Francis College (Brooklyn, NY) in the first of five consecutive home matches on September 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Hynes Pool.