CLAREMONT, CA - The Iona College women's water polo team closed out play on its west coast road trip with a split of two contests Sunday afternoon. The Gaels were unable to keep up with the offensive attack of fourth ranked Arizona State, falling 16-3. In the day's second game, Iona topped Pomona 8-6.
The Gaels were outscored early and often against ASU, as the Sun Devils outscored Iona 6-0 in the first half and the first eight goals of the game. Iona finally got on the board with 2:36 remaining in the third when senior
Cecilia Leonard scored. Leonard would score once again in the third but Iona was still behind 10-2 after three. The Sun Devils would outscore the Gaels 6-1 in the fourth, handling Iona its first double digit loss of the season.
Leonard finished with two goals, while junior
Alyssa Turza had the final goal for Iona. Sophomore
Marisa Gaynor had three saves.
Against Pomona, The two teams played scoreless polo for almost five minutes, until sophomore
Erika Lauraitis scored with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The teams then split goals as the Gaels took a 2-1 lead into the second quarter. In the second quarter, Iona got four goals from four different players to push the lead to 6-1 until Pomona's Alyssa Woodward scored her second and third goals of the contest in the final two minutes of the quarter, putting Iona up 6-3 at half. Both teams tightened up on defense in the second half, as the two teams combined for five goals in the final sixteen minutes of play.
The Gaels extended their lead to four on Turza's second goal of the contest before Pomona scored twice in the quarter to cut the Iona lead to two, 7-5. Iona and Pomona split goals in the fourth as Iona hung on for the 8-6 victory. Turza had two goals while Lauraitis also scored twice. Leonard and classmates
Caitlin McGregor and
Mackenzie Mone each scored once. Sophomore
Amy Olsen also found the net for Iona. Gaynor had six saves for the Gaels.
Iona is back in action Saturday at 2:30 pm when they visit Marist to open up MAAC play.
