CAMBRIDGE, MA - The Iona College men's water polo team took eighth place this weekend at the CWPA North-South Challenge, hosted by Harvard. In its opening contest on Saturday, the team fell to No. 13 Princeton 16-6 before ending the day with a 15-6 loss to George Washington. On Sunday, the team dropped a 17-14 decision to Mercyhurst in the seventh place contest.
"We're just not playing smart water polo right now," said head coach
Brian Kelly. "We've proved that we have the talent and personal to compete in each game, but we're just not putting together complete efforts right now."
Against the Tigers, Iona was able to keep its opponents off the board in the first quarter, clinging to a 1-0 lead after the initial eight minutes of play. Princeton then took a 3-1 lead before halftime and then struck for its biggest offensive output in the second half.
In the third quarter, the Tigers went on an 8-1 run to hold a 13-2 lead and wrapped up the game with a 5-4 fourth quarter.
Against George Washington, the teams were tied, 3-3, after one quarter, but GW outscored the Gaels 6-1 in the second to take a 9-4 lead at halftime. GW then outscored the Gaels, 5-1, in the second half for the 15-6 win.
Against the Colonials, Lloyd and senior
Kristian Bocage each score twice. Elmore and junior
Sean Davis were responsible for the other Iona tallies. Hill registered eight saves in goal.
Against Mercyhurst, the Lakers led 5-4 after one quarter as both teams came out strong offensively. In the second period, Mercyhurst scored three times to push its lead to an 8-4 advantage. After two Iona goals, a late Lakers tally made it 9-6 at the half.
Iona was able to keep up with the Mercyhurst offense in the second half, scoring eight goals over the last 16 minutes of play, but wasn't able to make up the three goal deficit.
Senior
Connor Bracken, junior
Lee Stiles and freshman
Zach Presto each found the net three times apiece for the Gaels. Ramaley had two goals and two assists while Davis had two goals and an assist of his own. Hill made ten saves in the loss.
"We have had bad runs in parts of every game thus far and we've been unable to recover from them," continued Kelly. "We need to answer back, stop these runs and we'll be fine, starting immediately with our upcoming league games."
The Gaels will get a chance to get back on track Thursday, when they host St. Francis (NY) at the Hynes Center at 8:00 in its CWPA North opener.
Iona-Princeton
Goals: Matthew Stelnicki 2, James Ramaley 1, Kyle Elmore 1, Jake Lloyd 1, Brandon Crane 1
Saves: Stefen Hill 11
Iona-George Washington
Goals: Kristian Bocage 2,
Jake Lloyd 2,
Kyle Elmore 1,
Sean Davis 1
Saves: Stefen Hill 8
Iona-Mercyhurst
Goals: Connor Bracken 3,
Lee Stiles 3,
Zach Presto 3,
James Ramaley 2,
Sean Davis 2,
Kristian Bocage 1
Saves: Stefen Hill 9
