NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College women's water polo team split a pair of crucial Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchup Sunday held at the Hynes Athletic Center. In game one, the Gaels came away with a dominating 12-3 win over Villanova. In the day's finale against Marist, despite a three-goal lead in the third period, the Gaels allowed the Red Foxes to creep back and suffered an 8-7 loss in the team's second game of the day.
Game One: Vs. Villanova
After a slow first quarter 1-0 start on a lone Iona goal by junior Erika Lauraitis, a score from senior co-captain Alyssa Turza, and two from junior co-captain Amy Olsen, gave Iona a 4-0 halftime lead.
Resting his starters for this afternoon's match against second-place Marist, head coach Brian Kelly challenged his reserves, who responded with five unanswered third-quarter goals for a 9-0 lead going into the final period. The Gaels suffered their only MAAC loss 9-8 to the Red Foxes on March 30 at Villanova.
Iona and Villanova both scored three times in the final frame. Sophomore Katie Stelnicki and freshman Rebecca Mathews led the Gaels with three goals each. Olsen scored twice, while Lauraitis, Turza, freshmen Meghan Mahoney and Emma Martinus netted one goal each.
Game Two: Vs. Marist
The teams were tied at five going into the final quarter on a Marist goal with 7.6 seconds left in the third. Junior Sarah Hanly put the Gaels ahead 6-5 with 4:52 left in regulation, but Marist answered to tie 18 seconds later. A minute later, the Red Foxes hit another goal to take their first lead of the match, until Stelnicki broke away for a tying score at the 1:51 mark. Marist scored with three seconds left in regulation for the win.
With both teams scoreless in the opening two minutes, Lauraitis scooped in a rebound to give Iona a 1-0 lead with 5:53 left in the period.
Olsen's back-hand score put Iona up 2-0 at 5:29, then the Red Foxes finally found the net with a man-up advantage at 3:47. Turza gave the Gaels a 3-1 advantage 1:48 before halftime.
Iona took a 4-1 lead in the third period when Turza back-handed her second goal with 3:18 gone. In the next four minutes, Marist outscored Iona 4-1 tie the game at five as the third period ended with Stelnicki hitting the lone Gael goal in the Marist run.
Turza and Stelnicki led the Gaels with two goals each, while Lauraitis, Olsen and Hanly had one score each. On the defensive end, Iona had 12 steals, four by Stelnicki, three by Turza, and seven by junior goalie Marissa Gaynor, who recorded eight saves in the loss. Turza and junior Georgina Lee were disqualified on three fouls in the final period.
Prior to the match, the Gaels honored Turza, the lone graduating senior on the squad. In addition to flowers and gifts, Turza's teammates serenaded her with an original rap song heralding her leadership and accomplishments. During her four years, Turza has scored 222 goals, seventh on the Iona scoring list, and was the Most Outstanding Player in Iona's triumph in the 2012 MAAC Tournament.
