NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College women’s water polo team (0-4, 0-0 MAAC) concluded the Brown tournament with a 14-7 defeat to the hands of the unbeated No. 16 Hartwick Hawks.
Junior Hannah Schultz led the Maroon & Gold with three goals, along with two kickouts drawn. Senior Rebecca Koshy tallied two goals, with juniors Megan Hofer and Kayla Allen each finding the scoresheet once. In goal, junior Britten Vilander stopped nine Hawks’ shots and collected two steals.
Schultz opened the scoring 3:26 into the contest to give the Maroon & Gold an early 1-0 lead. The Hawks stormed back with three goals within a two minue span, giving the opposition a 3-1 advantage when the first horn sounded.
The Gaels found a tough time solving the nationally ranked Hawks squad, getting outscored 5-1 in the second quarter. Hartwick’s Tori Wilson scored the the Hawks’ fourth goal with 5:23 remaining before three more teammates found the back of the net in the following three minutes. Koshy stalled the Hartwick run briefly with a goal within the final 12 seconds, before Hartwick’s Nikolina Mihajlovik scored at the final buzzer giving the Hawks an 8-2 lead at the half.
Koshy tallied her second goal 55 seconds into the third quarter to cut the Gael deficit to 8-3. The Hawks defense continued to shut down the Maroon & Gold for the remainder, holding the Gaels scoreless in the final seven minutes while adding a trio of goals. Iona trailed 11-3 going into the final period.
The Maroon & Gold outscored the Hawks 4-3 in the final frame. Schultz answered an early Hawks goal with her second of the game before completing her hat trick with 4:47 remaining, cutting the deficit to eight, 13-5. Schultz responded to a Hawks goal with her fourth just 17 seconds later. Hofer scored her first of the season with 1:38 to complete the scoring.
Iona has a one month break before they resume play on Mar. 4 for a quartet of contests in the Harvard Invitational.