LOUDONVILLE, NY – After leading Marist College for most of the first three periods, the Iona women's water polo team was outscored 7-2 in the fourth quarter and two overtime periods for a 13-11 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss Sunday afternoon at Siena College.
Junior Hannah Schultz led Iona (5-8, 2-2 MAAC) with six goals, while senior co-captain Darby Nevins scored two. Senior co-captain Rebecca Koshy, junior Kayla Allen, and junior Devika Joshi had one goal each.
In goal, junior Britten Vilander had 15 saves on 32 Marist shots and four steals. On defense, the Gaels made ten steals and one block. The Gaels drew five Red Foxes ejections, while being kicked out 12 times. Junior Karli Normand was disqualified with three ejections.
With a minute gone in the match, the Red Foxes scored first on a lob shot, but Nevins tied the game at one 1:20 later. Due to stiff defense at both ends of the pool, neither squad scored until Schultz put the Gaels up 2-1 with 1:35 left in the first quarter. Marist tied the match at two a minute later, but on the next Iona possession, Schultz hit the upper left corner of the cage as Iona retook the lead 3-2 going into the second period.
On the Gaels' first second-period possession, Schultz's third goal gave Iona a two-goal cushion 4-2. Schultz struck again with 3:39 to go as Iona went up 5-2. With 1:22 left to halftime, Marist trimmed the Iona lead to 5-3 at intermission.
Only 26 seconds into the third period, Nevins scored on the Gaels first possession of the quarter to increase the Iona edge to 6-3. Marist narrowed the Iona lead to two 6-2 just 1:02 later, but Joshi's five-meter shot 41 ticks later put the Gaels back up three. On Iona's next trip down the pool, Schultz's hit her fifth goal for an 8-4 Gael advantage. The Red Foxes fought back with two goals, one on a man-up opportunity to cut the Gael to 8-6 with 1:40 on the clock. Schultz's seventh score on a point-blank skip shot put Iona up 9-6 as the final period began.
The Red Foxes rallied with two straight goals on a five-meter penalty shot and a 6-5 advantage to pull within one 9-8 with 4:57 left in regulation. Marist tied the score at nine a minute later, but the Gaels regained the lead on Allen's goal 15 seconds later. With 3:06 to go, Marist tied the match for the fourth time at ten to force overtime.
On Iona's first overtime possession, Koshy capitalized on a man-up opportunity as Iona regained the lead 11-10 with 2:33 on the clock. But Marist knotted the game at eleven only eleven seconds later, then went up 12-11 with 37 seconds left in the first overtime period. Twenty-seven seconds into the second overtime, the Red Foxes increased their lead to 13-11. A Gael rally fell short as Schultz's potential seventh goal was waived off with 37 seconds left.
Iona travels to Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA, next weekend for Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matches against Siena College on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., Villanova University at 9 a.m. on Sunday and VMI at 5:30 p.m.
