PROVIDENCE, RI – The Iona College men's water polo team finished twelfth at the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship after an 11-6 loss to Fordham University Sunday morning at Brown University.

Seniors Lee Stiles and Sean Davis led the Gaels (7-27) with two goals each, while senior Bryan Driscoll and sophomore Gerardo Sanchez Rivera added one apiece. Senior goalie Stefen Hill recorded seven saves in the loss.

Only 36 seconds into the game, Stiles gave Iona its first goal, but Fordham (14-19) tied the game at one with 6:14 remaining in the first period. Stiles put Iona back up by one a minute later on an assist from Davis. With 1:44 left in the opening quarter, Fordham tied the game at two scores each.

Fordham scored again 1:15 into the second period, then 57 seconds later Davis tied the game at three on a pool-length assist from Hill. The Rams scored two unanswered goals to lead 5-3 with 4:50 to halftime. But 19 seconds later, Driscoll pulled the Gaels back to within one to be down 5-4 at intermission.

The Rams hit two consecutive goals to led 7-4 with 3:47 left in the third period. Davis and Rivera both hit the back of the net to narrow the gap to 7-6 at the 2:06 mark.

While the Gaels failed to score in the final 9:21 of the match, Fordham hit four unanswered goals to seal the 11-6 win.

Even though he noted the team's strong effort during the championship games, Iona head coach Brian Kelly was disappointed with the Gaels season-ending loss, especially against local rival Fordham.

“I expected a much better effort versus a division rival,” Kelly said. “We didn't play with any sense of urgency.

“There was no push to our offense. If it wasn't for our goaltending efforts, the game could have been really ugly," continued Kelly.  "We played well all weekend, and unfortunately we didn't bring the same time of effort into today's game.”