ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Iona men's water polo team raised its season record to 3-1 with victories over Pennsylvania State University Behrend and Salem International University (West Virginia) today at the Navy Open hosted by the United States Naval Academy.
Game 1 vs. Penn State Behrend
In the first match of the doubleheader, the Gaels never trailed in an 18-5 win over PSU Behrend, which included a 14-point third quarter lead.
Sophomore Blake Ballantyne led the Gaels with four goals, while senior tri-captain Hudson Grieve scored three goals, and sophomore Bailey Lyons had two. Senior tri-captain Dan Fleck, juniors Zach Roper, Jonathan Hulbert, Patrick Judge, Kade Ramirez, sophomores Jason Hill, Phil Wachowski, and freshman Cullen Seippe had one score each.
In his Iona debut, freshman Michael Banks had eight saves on 19 PSUB shots and five steals. On defense, the Gaels made ten steals, three by junior Marc Stauble, and seven blocks, two by Fleck.
Iona drew eight PSUB kickouts, and was ejected 11 times. Fleck was disqualified with three ejections in the final period.
Roper needed only 48 seconds to put Iona ahead 1-0, but the Lions tied the game at one 17 seconds later. The Gaels reeled off six unanswered goals – two from Grieve and one each by Roper, Hulbert, Hill and Fleck to lead 7-1 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second period, Iona outscored PSUB 7-2 on two goals each from Ballantyne and Lyons and one apiece from Grieve, Pretorius and Ramirez for a 14-3 lead at intermission. Iona picked up three more goals – two by Ballantyne and one by Wachowski – while PSUB failed in the third quarter, as the Gaels led 17-3 going into the final period. The Lions scored twice in the fourth quarter, while Seippe added one goal to the Gael lead.
Game 2 vs. Salem International
After a close first quarter with two ties, the Iona offense built an eleven-point fourth quarter lead in a 20-10 win over Salem International.
Senior tri-captain Hudson Grieve led Iona with five goals, while freshman Quinn Lloyd had four goals and junior Marc Stauble hit three. Roper, Andres Guerra, and freshman Cullen Seippi scored two goals each. Fleck and sophomore Jason Hill had one goal apiece. Roper had three of Iona's seven assists.
In goal, freshman Jorge Andres Torres made 22 saves on 46 Salem shots, and made four steals.
On defense, the Gaels had six steals and six blocks. Iona drew eight Salem kickouts, while being ejected 12 times, and making 14 turnovers.
On Iona's second possession 49 seconds into the match, Grieve put the Gaels up 1-0, but the Tigers tied the game at one 1:03 later. Grieve put Iona back up 2-1 with 5:01 left in the opening period until a Salem five-meter penalty shot evened the match at two 34 seconds later. Hitting his third score in the opening four minutes of the match, Grieve sparked a three-goal rally followed by Stauble and Lloyd for a 5-2 Iona lead with 2:22 on the clock. The Tigers answered on their next possession to trim the Gael lead to 5-3 going into the second period.
In the opening 1:40 of the second quarter, Grieve's fourth goal and Stauble's second gave the Gaels a 7-3 lead, but two straight Salem goals in the next 46 seconds trimmed that advantage to 7-5. Seippi responded with 5:12 left in the first half, but a Salem goal got the Tigers back with two 8-6 with 2:43 on the clock. Three straight Iona scores in the final 1:46 of the first half by Guerra, Lloyd and Seippi gave the Gaels a 11-6 advantage at intermission.
The Gaels came roaring off the bench with two straight scores from Lloyd and Roper in the first 48 seconds of the second half to go up 14-8. Salem hit a five-meter penalty shot at the 5:46 mark, then another Gael three-goal rally by Grieve, Lloyd and Guerra put Iona up 16-7 with four minutes left in the third quarter. A Salem score with 3:30 to go trimmed the Iona lead to 16-8 going into the final period.
Iona outscored Salem 4-2 in the fourth quarter with goals from Seippi, Roper, and Hill's five-meter penalty shot, which resulted from three game misconduct calls – two on Salem players and one on Ballantyne with all three players disqualified.
Head Coach Brian Kelly praised the strong efforts in net. "This was a good start to what hopefully is a great season. Our goaltending was great all weekend," said Kelly. "The offense really picked it up. Hudson Grieve was a force and he set the tone today. I'm really looking forward to getting back to work with this group to continue to build off this momentum."
The Gaels go back on the road for a triple-header at the Princeton Invitational. The Maroon and Gold will faceoff against UC San Diego on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 8:00 PM, George Washington University on Friday, Sept. 9 at 10:30 AM, and Santa Clara University at 7:15 PM.
