NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College Lacrosse team dropped a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday at Mazzella Field, falling to the Marist Red Foxes 13-9. Prior to the game, Iona celebrated its seven graduating seniors Katelyn Noschese, Kristian Wasdick, Zoe Mazzulli, Grace Celona, Brianne Towey, Rachelle Serafini and Erin Pugh.
As a team, the Gaels outshot the Red Foxes by a wide margin 38-27, but Marist corralled 14 saves compared to Iona's four. Iona controlled nine out of 24 draws and were successful on all 11 clear attempts.
Junior Pamela Giordano led the Gaels with four goals on nine shots. Pugh concluded her stellar career with a pair of goals and one assist. Sophomore Libby Miller connected with two goals and Noschese found the back of the net in the waining minutes to cap off her Iona tenure.
The Red Foxes raced out to an early 2-0 lead just six minutes into the game before Giordano answered back with a free-position goal with 18:39 left in the first half. After Marist scored another goal two minutes later, the game remained scoreless for the next 15 minutes before Giordano cut the deficit to one, 2-3 in the final minute of the half.
Giordano knotted the score at three just 13 ticks into the second frame, but Marist scored the next four goals over a five minute span to pull away 7-3. Giordano brought the Gaels back to within three off another free-position shot with 20 minutes to play. The Red Foxes would go on to score another five unanswered goals over five minutes to put the Gaels deficit to eight, 12-4.
Iona would not go quietly, scoring the five of the games' final six goals. Miller buried first second goal on a free-position shot. After a Red Foxes goal, Pugh scored her 19th and 20th goals of the season, with the later coming off a dish from Noschese. With 2:56 remaining, Noshcese tallied her final collegiate goal on a free position shot, and was followed by Miller with just four ticks remaining.
The Maroon & Gold will conclude the season on Wednesday to take on Monmouth at 3:00 PM at Mazzella Field. The game can be viewed on ESPN3.
