Annapolis, MD - The Iona College Men's Water Polo team closed out the Eastern Championship weekend in the seventh place game against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For the third straight game, the Gaels took an early lead, but another strong second quarter but its opponent saw Iona fall 10-9 to MIT.

Joe Przekota netted the game's first goal with 6:42 of the first period, but MIT put up back-to-back tallies with the first goal hitting the twine just 20 seconds after Przekota's goal. Iona scored again to tie the score at the end of the first quarter. The Engineers, like Navy and Bucknell, outscored the Gaels in the second quarter with MIT putting up four goals to Iona's three to take a 7-5 advantage into the half. MIT poured it on with a 3-1 third quarter and despite a 3-1 fourth, the Gaels couldn't get over the top in another tough one goal loss.

Six of the 19 goals in the game came off penalty shots, including three of the eight in the second half and two in the final eight minutes of play. Przekota again led the Gaels as he netted five goals. Trevor Creighton scored a pair with Nick Velasquez and Seth Tasman each adding a goal to round out the scoring. Eric Konzem blocked away a shot in the first and one in the fourth period.

Patrick St. Cin picked up his second honor of the weekend as he was named to the Second-Team All-Eastern Tournament Team. The Gaels finished the 2008 season with a record of 14-21 and the number three seed at Easterns was the highest ever for the program. The third place victory at Northerns was the second time the program finished a season in third place in the CWPA Northern Division and the Gaels advanced to their third Eastern Division Championships in four seasons.

    1     2     3     4     Final
MIT     2     4     3     1     10
Iona     2     3     1     3     9