NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College men's soccer team held on to a 3-1 victory over Saint Peter's in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Mazzella Field. Three different performers recorded goals for the Gaels as they matched their program record 14th win on the season.
Less than six minutes in, sophomore
Samuel Adjei connected on his fifth goal of the year, blasting a shot past Saint Peter's netminder Diego Mendoza. Sophomore
Franklin Castellanos earned his NCAA leading 12th assist of the season to give Iona a 1-0 advantage at 5:23.
Later in the frame, junior
Douglas Stephens got on the scoreboard for the first time this season as he one-timed a feed across the box from rookie
Ignacio Maganto in the 41st minute.
Both teams threatened each other offensively in the second half, but it was the Peacocks that capitalized first. Shortly after sophomore
MJ Nestor's one-on-one attempt with Mendoza was stopped in the 75th minute, a Saint Peter's lob into the box came off an Iona defender and surprised rookie keeper
Borja Barbero. Barbero made a nice stop to avoid an own goal, but the rebound went right to the foot of Peacocks' leading scorer Noah Sadoui who found the back of the net for the eighth time at 75:30.
Saint Peter's nearly tied the score six minutes later as Barbero cut off Harry Newman's angle and his shot attempt hit the post in the 82nd minute.
Nestor put the Peacocks away in the 84th minute, tallying his first collegiate goal with an assist to freshman
Michael Hodgen. Nestor came down the left side and beat Mendoza to his right to give Iona a 3-1 advantage that it wouldn't relinquish.
Mendoza made seven saves while Barbero stopped three. The Peacocks took a 15-12 shots advantage including 11-4 in the second half. The margin was helped also by a 10-5 corner kick edge by the visitors.
Iona completes the 2011 regular season on Senior Day, Sunday at 1:00 pm against Manhattan. The Gaels need just one point to secure the No. 2 seed in next weekend's MAAC Championship. All 10 teams earn a berth this season at the tournament held at Walt Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, FL.
