PROVIDENCE, RI – Despite a valiant fourth-period rally, the Iona College men's water polo team's upset hopes fell short, as the Gaels dropped its opening round match 16-12 to fifth-seeded Princeton University at the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship Friday afternoon at Brown University.
Senior Bryan Driscoll and junior Jake Lloyd led the eleventh-seeded Gaels (7-25) with three goals each. Senior Sean Davis and sophomore Zach Presto scored two goals each, and junior Ian Thompson and freshman Chris Ellis added one apiece. Senior goalie Stefen Hill recorded four saves.
In the opening two minutes, Princeton (20-5) hit two straight goals, but Lloyd answered with two to tie the game with 3:01 left. The Tigers hit two more in the closing minute to lead 4-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Princeton scored twice to increase its edge to 6-2, until Driscoll's first goal got the Gaels within three at the 2:05 mark. With 38 seconds left in the second quarter, Princeton added another goal, but Davis' long lob made the halftime score 7-4.
In a high-scoring third period, the Tigers hit four straight goals to lead 11-4 with 4:47 left. The Gaels rallied with three of their own by Driscoll, Presto and Lloyd to make the score 11-7 with 1:59 remaining in the quarter. Princeton responded with two goals for a 13-7 lead going into the final period.
Iona outscored Princeton 5-3 in the fourth frame, including three scores (Thompson, Davis and Ellis) in the closing three minutes.
Despite the disappointing loss, Iona head coach Brian Kelly saw many positives in his squad's effort.
“We had a fantastic offensive game, and we kept fighting and coming back all game,” said Kelly. “Unfortunately every time we grew closer, we couldn't get the big stop to bring us even or ahead.”
“We focused on shutting down a couple of their top shooters and we did a good job on that,” continued Kelly. “But we did a very poor job stopping their center play, which has been a strength of ours all season.”
Iona faces number-seven seed Mercyhurst tomorrow afternoon at 12:20 p.m.
