NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona men's water polo team ended its three-match weekend with a 19-15 home win over Salem International this morning at the Hynes Pool to take two of the squad's last three contests.
Junior Marc Stauble and freshman Quinn Lloyd led the Gaels (9-16, 1-5 NEWPC) with five goals each, while senior Matt Rothman had three. Senior Hudson Grieve and junior Patrick Judge scored two goals each, and senior Dan Fleck and junior Zach Roper added one score apiece. The Gaels had eight assists with two each from Rothman and sophomore Andres Guerra.
Freshman goalie Jorge Andres Torres made 16 saves on 42 Tigers shots, along with one steal and three assists. On defense, the Gaels made five steals, two by Quinn, and made four blocks. Iona drew 12 Tigers ejections, including five by Grieve, and were ejected 15 times. Judge was disqualified in the final period with three ejections. Iona scored on six of ten man-up opportunities, and Salem scored on seven of 14 chances.
Salem got on the board first with 1:39 gone in the match, but Fleck, assisted by Rothman, capitalized on the Gaels first 6-5 advantage to tie the score at one with 4:50 left in the first quarter. The visitors went back up 2-1, until Stauble's five-meter penalty shot, drawn by Grieve, followed by another Stauble goal gave the Gaels their first lead 3-2 with 2:02 left. Iona's four-goal rally continued with scores by Grieve and Lloyd for a 5-2 edge going into the second quarter.
On their first second-period possession, the visitors narrowed the home edge to 5-3, then Judge answered with 7:08 to go for a 6-3 Gael lead. The Tigers answered 46 ticks later, but Roper upped the Iona lead to three 7-4 at the 4:41 mark. Over the next four minutes, the teams traded goals with Gael scores by Roper, Lloyd and two by Stauble, including another five-meter penalty shot. With 20 seconds left, Salem nailed the last score of the half to narrow the Iona edge to 10-9 at intermission.
With 1:40 gone in the third period, Judge's second goal upped the Gael advantage to two, 11-9. The squads began another goal-trading stretch over the next four minutes as the Gaels could not pull away from the pesky Tigers. With Iona scores by Judge, Grieve and two by Lloyd, Iona led 14-12 as the final period began.
Lloyd fired from six meters just 23 ticks into the fourth quarter, followed by two straight Rothman goals to put Iona up 17-12 with 5:39 left. Thirty-nine seconds later, Salem scored on a 6-5 advantage, then Rothman did the same to up the Gael lead to five 18-13 with 3:52 left. The Tigers scored on their next possession, until Roper's steal lead to Stauble's fifth goal at the 2:14 mark.
Despite two disappointing losses earlier in the week, Iona head coach Brian Kelly was pleased with his team's improved play for “two solid victories” against Mercyhurst and Salem.
“It's been an up-and-down week,” Kelly said. “We played as bad as an Iona team could play on Wednesday night, and then turned it around with a good half versus Princeton, and that helped us to earn two solid victories versus two talented teams in Mercyhurst and Salem.”
The Gaels will honor their four graduating seniors on Wednesday night prior to a Northeast Water Polo Conference home match against Saint Francis (Brooklyn) at 7 p.m.
