The Iona College women's water polo team opened up play on their west coast trip Thursday with a pair of contests. Against Concordia in Irvine, the Gaels picked up a one goal victory 11-10. Against Cal Baptist in nearby Riverside, Iona was defeated 10-9.

Against Concordia, senior Maggie Wood had five points on four goals and an assist. Wood drew two ejections and had two steals on the defensive end. Junior Cecilia Leonard had four points on two goals and two assists. Freshman Amy Olsen had two goals, a steal and drew two ejections. Junior Mackenzie Mone had two goals and two steals for the Gaels while sophomore Alyssa Turza had a goal. Senior Sam Cody drew one ejection and senior Kathleen Link had 10 saves in net.

"We played flat for most of the game and a lot of that had to do with Concordia's team defense and goaltending," commented head coach Brian Kelly.  "They did a great job of slowing our counter down and we didn't convert our six on five advantage.  Luckily, we had another great performance in goal by Kathleen."

Against Cal Baptist, Leonard had four goals and two steals. Mone had two goals and a steal while Turza found the net twice. Scheetz had one goal and one steal, with Cody also picking up a steal. In net, Link had another double digit save effort with ten stops. She also had five steals and one assist.

"Another slow start cost us greatly in the end," said Kelly.  We were down 3-0 after the first for minutes as unforced turnovers led to transition goals for CBU.  They're a top counter team in the country and we played right into their hands.  I think five of their first six goals were in transition.  We fought back and played a solid game, but for the second game in a row, we couldn't convert on the six on five advantage, going just one-for-nine.  You have to give their defense a lot of credit, it was a true game changer."

The Gaels are back in action Friday at the Lancer Invite in Claremont, taking on Indiana at 5:30 pm EST and Azusa Pacific at 8:30 pm EST.