PRINCETON, NJ – The Iona women's water polo team split two matches on Saturday, Feb. 13 at the 2016 Princeton Invitation at DeNuncio Pool; the Gaels earned a 15-11 win over California Lutheran University and suffered a tough 11-10 double-overtime loss to Bucknell University.
Iona 15 California Lutheran 11
After trading leads in the first period, Iona pulled ahead of California Lutheran by halftime, and mounted a four-goal fourth quarter lead.
Sophomore Hanna Schultz led the Gaels with four goals, while senior Dana Andrea scored three. Senior Rebecca Mathews and sophomore Kayla Allen scored two each. Senior Meghan Mahoney, senior Sara Bortz, junior Rebecca Koshy and junior Darby Nevins scored one goal apiece.
In the goal, sophomore Britten Vilander had five saves, two steals, and three assists. On the defense, the Gaels made 13 steals with senior Taylor Silva and sophomore Karli Normand having three each.
Only 30 seconds into the match, Mathews gave Iona a 1-0 lead on a 6-5 advantage, then Cal Lutheran hit two unanswered scores to tie and go ahead 2-1 with 4:30 left in the first period. The Gaels responded with their own 2-0 run on Schultz's first goal and Andrea's lob off Vilander's lead pass. With 1:27 left, Cal Lutheran tied the game at three.
Cal Lutheran retook the lead 4-3 with 1:12 gone in the second period, but Andrea's second goal retied the game at four at the five-minute mark. The Gael offense erupted with three more unanswered goals from Koshy, Allen and Schultz to outscore the Regals 4-1 in the second quarter and lead 7-4 at intermission.
The Iona 6-0 run continued into the third period as Schultz scored on the opening possession with Andrea winning the swim-off, and Mahoney's goal, so the Gaels led 9-4 with 1:55 gone in the third. But the Regals rallied with two consecutive scores to narrow the Iona edge to 9-6 at the 5:07 mark.
Iona came back with Andrea's breakaway score on Vilander's pool-length assist and Allen's second goal to lead 11-6 at the 2:53 mark. Forty seconds later, Vilander heaved another assist to a streaking Nevins, who put the Gaels up 12-6. Although the Regals scored with 1:44 left, Iona answered for a 13-7 lead going into the final period.
Cal Lutheran outscored Iona 4-2 in the final period with Gael goals from Bortz and Schultz, but the Regals never got closer than four goals as Iona sealed the win.
Bucknell 11 Iona 10 - 2OT
In the evening double-overtime match that featured ten ties and four lead changes, the Gaels fell short 11-10 despite a stellar performance from freshman goalie Jordin Hale in her first collegiate start.
Allen and Mathews led the Gaels with three goals each. Silva, Nevins, Koshy and Schultz scored one goal each.
Hale made 13 saves and two steals in goal. On defense, the Gaels made three blocks and nine steals – two each by Andrea and Mathews. Nevins was disqualified with three ejections.
Although Bucknell struck first 1:12 into the match, Mathews tied the score at the 5:32 mark. The Bison retook the lead 2-1 with 2:53 left in the first period, but Allen's first goal a minute later retied the match at two.
In a low-scoring second period, Nevins gave the Gaels their first lead 1:36 into the quarter. With stiff defense on both sides of the ball, neither squad managed a goal until :50 seconds left in the half when Bucknell knotted the score at three, the game's third tie. Allen's second goal with just six ticks left to intermission gave Iona the lead again 4-3.
Forty seconds into the third quarter Bucknell tied the match at four, then went ahead 5-4 with 4:56 left. Silva answered 45 seconds later for the match's fifth tie at 5-5. Allen's third goal put the Gaels back up 6-5 at the 1:04 mark, but with 20 seconds to go the Bison locked the teams at six as the final period began.
With 1:47 gone in the fourth, Mathews' second goal pushed Iona ahead again 7-6. The pesky Bison would not go away, however, and tied the game at seven at the 5:15 mark. Koshy needed only 27 seconds to give Iona the lead back 8-7. Bucknell found the back of the net with 1:19 left to knot the score at eight. In the final minute, neither team could score on their final possessions as Hale tipped a last-second Bison shot to send the game into overtime.
The teams traded goals in the first overtime period, Bucknell first, then Mathews tied the game at nine as the second extra period started. Forty seconds into the second overtime, the Bison retook the lead 10-9, but Schultz answered 16 seconds later for the match's tenth tie. With 49 seconds on the clock, Bucknell hit a five-meter penalty shot for the win as Iona could not score on its last two possessions.
Although disappointed with the overtime loss, Iona head coach Brian Kelly was upbeat about his team's performance this weekend.
“We played well enough to be 3 and 0 in this tournament,” Kelly said. “We've been playing with a ton of energy, speed and physicality. We have to raise our verbal communication level to match the other three.”
The Gaels take on host Princeton at 11:30 a.m. Sunday to wrap up their four-match road trip.
