STATEN ISLAND, NY - In a hotly contested battle between two MAAC rivals, the Gaels went toe-to-toe with No. 17 Wagner, but were unable to prevail, falling to the Seahawks 9-8 Wednesday night.
Reigning MAAC Offensive Player of the Week Hannah Schultz tallied a team-high four goals. Juniors Kayla Allen and Devika Joshi each connected for two goals with senior Darby Nevins finding the back of the net once. In net, current MAAC Defensive Player of the week Britten Vilander made ten saves and amassed nine steals.
The Maroon & Gold (5-9, 2-3 MAAC) found it difficult to find any room in the first quarter against the Seahawks (15-10, 6-0 MAAC), failing to find the score sheet and conceding two Seahawks goals. After a Wagner goal put the host team up by three, the Maroon & Gold stormed back with three goals in a two minute span. Allen and Joshi struck with the first two goals within 32 ticks of each other, and was capped off by a man-up goal by Nevins to knot the score at three. The Gaels and Seahawks went into halftime standing even at 3-3.
A dramatic final 16 minutes of play saw the two teams go back and forth for a majority of the half. The Seahawks struck first with 3:32 into the frame but was answerd by Allen's second tally of the night. Iona conceded a Wagner goal with just 29 seconds to play as the Gaels looked at the scoreboard trailing by one after 24 minutes.
Schultz took over in the fourth quarter, scoring all four of the team's goals. The junior knotted the score at 5-5 with 6:58 left to play. After the Seahawks went back ahead with 4:40 left, Schultz evened the score just ten seconds later. With 2:13 remaining, Wagner went back on the advantage, but Schultz again answered 13 seconds later. The Seahawks scored the next two goals, with the later coming with just 17 seconds remaining. Schultz connected on a last-second goal, but the Gaels fell one goal short.
"That's back-to-back really tough games against the two best teams in the MAAC," Head Coach Brian Kelly stated after the game. "We had chances all the way until the end to win both games. Just like last game, we needed to make one more play. We're playing at a pretty high level right now and we're only going to get better."
The Maroon & Gold will head to Lexington, Virginia this weekend for three more MAAC competitions against Siena, Villanova, and host VMI.
