STATEN ISLAND, NY - The Iona College women's water polo team captured a share of the 2013 MAAC Regular Season Championship after picking up a pair of wins Sunday in contests held at Wagner College. In game one, the team defeated Siena 15-6 before defeating VMI 14-4.
GAME ONE: VS. SIENA
Senior Alyssa Turza scored eight goals, including four in the first period, to lead the Gaels to the 15-6 win.
With 1:27 gone in the match, Turza hit her first goal, then another 1:30 later to give the Gaels a 2-0 lead. Siena answered with 4:50 left in the opening period, but two more Turza scores, and another from junior Erika Lauraitis put Iona ahead 5-1 going into the second.
The Gaels leading scorer Amy Olsen hit her first of three match goals with 5:30 left in the second period to increase the Iona lead to 6-1. But Siena hit two unanswered in the next 1:20 closing the gap to 6-3. With 25 ticks left to intermission, Turza netted her fifth goal for a 7-3 Iona halftime advantage.
In the third period, two goals each from Olsen and Turza put Iona up 11-5 as the final quarter began. Head coach Brian Kelly played his entire squad in the fourth quarter, during which the Gaels outscored the Saints 5-1.
Turza led the Gaels with eight goals, while Olsen hit three, and Lauraitis, junior Georgina Lee, sophomore Ashley DeMarzo, and freshman Rebecca Matthews hit one each. Junior goalie Marissa Gaynor recorded 12 saves. On the defensive side, the Gaels had 12 steals, three each from Olsen and Lauraitis, and Olsen drew three Siena ejections.
GAME TWO: VS. VMI
Although VMI scored first with 1:46 left in the first period, Olsen scored twice within 31 seconds in the closing 1:25 to give the Gaels a 2-1 lead. Iona hit five unanswered goals in the second quarter for a 7-1 halftime lead.
The Gaels added another three goals in the third for a 10-1 advantage going into the final period. Iona's defense held VMI to a single goal until 6:34 left in regulation. Kelly rested his starters in the fourth quarter, but his reserves outscored VMI 4-3 to secure the win.
Olsen led Iona with six goals, while Turza and sophomore Katie Stelnicki had two each, and Mathews and fellow freshmen Taylor Silva, Dana Andrea and Emma Martinus hit one goal apiece.
On the defensive end, the Gaels had 10 steals with Turza getting three and Olsen two. Iona drew 14 ejections with Olsen causing five. Gaynor recorded 24 saves. The intensely physical match resulted in three VMI disqualifications and two for Iona (freshman Meghan Mahoney and Lauraitis).
Iona, Wagner and Marist all finished the regular season with identical conference marks of 10-2. In a three-team tiebreaker for first place, Wagner took the top seed for the upcoming MAAC Championship while Iona took second and Marist took third.
Since Iona had defeated Wagner twice, Wagner defeated Marist twice and Marist defeated Iona twice, the tiebreaker was based on goal differential in the games played between the three teams. Wagner came out on top with a plus-one goal differential while Iona was even and Marist was minus-one.
