Riverside, CA - The Iona College Women's Water Polo headed west to compete in seven
games in five days beginning Thursday. The Gaels opened up the trip
with a 13-6 win over Concordia (CA) behind hat tricks from Mackenzie Mone, Amanda Cody and Lauren Peterson. Peterson added a pair, including the game-winner, as Iona edged Cal Baptist 10-9.
The Gaels (9-4) took a 4-2 lead after the first quarter and netted four more goals before halftime to hold a 8-3 advantage. The Maroon & Gold outscored the Eagles (5-8) five goals to three over the final two quarters to grab the seven goal win. Mone added a steal to her hat trick. Cody had a pair of steals to go along with her hat trick and Peterson added three steals to her three goals. Amanda Anastasio netted a goal and Meghan Keller had two hit the back of the twine with three steals, and a kickout drawn. Amanda Brucia scored a goal, handed out an assist, two steals, two kickouts drawn and a field block. Kathleen Link had 10 saves, grabbed a steal, and handed out an assist. Cara George played half of fourth quarter and stopped three shots.
Against the Lancers (15-9), Iona again found the back of the net four times in the first quarter and Cal Baptist responded with three of their own. A 5-3 second quarter for the Maroon & Gold made it 9-6 at the half. The Lancers held the Gaels scoreless in the third quarter while they score a single tally to pull with two at 9-7. After a game-tying goal with 3:41 left to play, the game remained that way until 1:17 mark when Peterson scored the game-winner to give Iona the victory, but the first-ever for Iona College Water Polo, men's or women's, at Cal Baptist.
Peterson added an assist to her two tallies. MAAC Rookie of the Week Cecilia Leonard scored a hat trick with two assists, two field blocks and a steal. She has scored at least three goals in three of the last four games. Brucia netted a pair with an assist, two steals and a pair of kickouts drawn. Maggie Wood had a block party with three swats to go along with two goals, two assists and two steals. Link finished with nine saves and three steals.
The Gaels are currently on a five-game winning streak. They hope to continue the streak as they continue the trip and compete at the Lancer Invite # 2 beginning on Friday with a pair of games. Iona opens the invite against Fresno Pacific at 2:30 pm and then faces Chapman at 6:15 pm. All time are listed as Eastern Standard Time (EST).
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Iona 4 4 4 1 13
Concordia (CA) 2 1 1 2 6
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Iona 4 5 0 1 10
Cal Baptist 3 3 1 2 9
