BRONX, NY - The Iona College men's water polo team closed out its conference slate and regular season Wednesday evening with a 10-8 loss to Fordham at the Messmore Aquatic Center.

Iona stayed tight with the Rams throughout the first half in a matchup with huge seeding implications for next weekend's Northern Division Championship.  After the teams split four man-advantage goals in the first 5:18 of action, Fordham's David DeFontes scored with 1:43 remaining to give the Rams a 3-2 lead after one quarter of play.

Junior Lee Stiles was able to tie the score at three early in the second quarter and classmate Sean Davis knotted the score at four with 1:19 remaining in the first half.  However, Fordham was able to retake the lead once again with 50 seconds remaining to take a one goal lead into the half.

The turning point of the contest came in the third quarter when Fordham went on 3-0 run to open the period and moved ahead of the Gaels, 8-4.  Davis scored his second goal of the contest to momentarily halt the Fordham momentum.  But with 1:52 remaining, Alex Judge scored his second goal of the game to move Fordham back ahead by four heading into the final frame.

The Rams would strike first in the fourth period, opening up a game high five goal lead with 6:52 remaining but the Gaels would not quit.  Sophomores Kyle Elmore and Ian Thompson each found the net shortly thereafter as Iona trimmed the lead to three.  Freshman Zach Presto netted his third goal of the game with 2:15 remaining but the 10-8 margin was as close as Iona would get.

Presto and Davis were the lone Gaels with multi-goal games, while Elmore, Thompson and Stiles each finished with one apiece.  Junior Stefen Hill made eight saves for Iona.

Iona will compete at the CWPA Northern Division Championship from Nov. 3-4, at Brown University in Providence, RI.