NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Down by only a goal at halftime in a match featuring three ties and two lead changes, the Iona men's water polo team dropped their fourth straight NEWPC contest in a 15-9 loss to Brown University this afternoon to wrap up a three-match weekend at Hynes Pool.

Junior Quinn Lloyd led the Gaels (3-12, 0-4 NEWPC) with four goals, while red-shirt junior Phil Wachowski scored two goals. Senior co-captain Jason Hill, sophomores Brett Hofer and Patrick Hudak added one score each. The Gaels dished out eight assists with three from Hill.

In goal, junior Jorge Andres Torres made four saves on 20 Brown shots with 12 goals against and four steals. Junior Michael Banks had no saves on six Brown shots and three goals against.

On defense, the Gaels had 13 steals with four by Lloyd, and blocked two shots. Iona drew nine Brown kickouts, while being ejected 15 times. Sophomore Dalton Hansten was disqualified with three ejections.  

Iona scored nine goals on 27 shots on goal and turned the ball over 13 times. The Gaels scored seven goals on 11 man-up chances, while Brown scored nine goals on 15 man-up chances.

Brown struck first on a five-meter penalty shot with 2:54 left in the opening period, but Lloyd's point-blank shot tied the match at one 1:40 later. The Bears retook the lead 2-1 with only 24 ticks left in the first quarter.

The Bears went up by two 3-1 just 22 seconds into the second period until Hudak cut the visitors' lead back to one 3-2 to spark a 3-0 Gael run with 6:25 to go. After Iona head coach Brian Kelly called a time out on the Gaels next possession, Lloyd's second goal knotted the game at three at the 5:52 mark. Taking advantage of a man-up chance, Lloyd's third goal gave Iona the lead 4-3 with 4:08 on the clock. Seventeen seconds later the Bears tied the match for the third time at four.   With 37 seconds to halftime, Brown regained a one-goal edge 5-4.

On their first two possessions of the third period, the Bears scored twice, including on a man-up chance for a 7-4 three-goal advantage with 6:39 remaining.  But Lloyd's fourth score 29 seconds later sliced the Bears edge back to two 7-5. On the Gaels next trip down the pool, Hofer pulled Iona within one 7-6 with 5:09 left.   Going back up 9-6, Brown scored twice in the next 1:17, including a goalie-out 6-5 score when Torres was ejected.   Kelly replaced Torres in goal with Banks with 3:52 remaining. Wachowski found the back of the net with 1:02 left, but Brown answered with 22 ticks left for a three-goal 10-7 edge going into the final period.

Brown went up four 11-7 with 17 seconds gone to begin a 3-0 run to lead 12-7 with 4:26 left.  Wachowski and Hill scored for the Gaels late in the match, but the Brown added four consecutive goals to seal the win.

Despite a disappointing start in conference play, Kelly saw "good signs" this weekend as his young team continues to gain experience against tough opponents.

 "We are showing really good signs to turning the corner to becoming a good team," Kelly said. "We're going to continue to build and continue to get better.  We're looking forward to learning now to win as a program."

The Gaels travel to Southern California this week for a match at Loyola-Marymount in Los Angeles and four games at the Gary Troyer Tournament in Clairmont against Cal Tech, La Verne, Fresno Pacific and Redlands.