LEXINGTON, VA - The Iona College women's water polo team completed a weekend sweep of conference competition Sunday afternoon in games held at the Virginia Military Institute. In their first game of the day, the Gaels defeated Villanova 18-9 before defeating Siena 20-11.

In the first quarter against Villanova, the Gaels ran out to a 5-1 lead with five different players netting tallies for Iona. By the send of the second quarter, Iona had pulled ahead 11-3 as junior Sarah Hanly scored three goals in the frame.

Iona was outscore 5-3 in the third quarter as the Wildcats trimmed the lead to six, 14-8, heading to the final eight minutes of play. In the fourth, the Gaels tallied four more goals to take the nine goal victory.

Junior Amy Olsen scored five goals for the Gaels, while Hanly finished finished with four tallies. Senior Alyssa Turza and junior Erika Lauraitis scored two goals each, while juniors Hannah Cross and Georgina Lee, sophomore Katie Stelnicki and freshmen Dana Andrea and Sara Bortz all had one goal. Junior Marisa Gaynor had 12 saves in goal for Iona.

Against Siena, the Gaels raced out to a 6-4 lead in the first quarter as Olsen scored five goals in the first eight minutes.

Turza and Lauraitis would each find the net twice in the second quarter, along with goals from Olsen and Gaynor, as Iona held a six goal cushion, 12-6, at halftime.

Thre goals each for both squads helped Iona keep a six goal margin going into the final quarter, where the Gaels outscored the Saints 5-2 with five different goals scorers in the frame as the Gaels moved to 4-0 in early conference play.

Olsen finished with seven goals, while Turza chipped in four of her own. Lauraitis had three goals to go along with two goals from freshman Taylor Silva. Lee, Hanly and sophomore Ashley DeMarzo were credited with one goal apiece in the win. Gaynor made eight saves in net.