NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Leading the entire match, the Iona College men's water polo team racked up its first home win of the 2019 season in its final home match with a 16-12 non-conference victory over Wagner College at the Hynes Center pool on Wednesday night.
GAME SUMMARY
Junior
Andrew Brozovic led the Gaels with five goals, while junior All-American talent
Patrick Hudak and freshman
German Rodriguez scored three goals each. Junior
Brett Hofer had two goals, and seniors
Quinn Lloyd, Phil Wachowski, and freshman
Mohamed Refaat had one score apiece.
In goal, senior
Jorge Andres Torres had 12 saves on 34 Wagner shots. He also added in three steals.
On defense, the Maroon & Gold made nine steals as a team, with a strong three coming from Lloyd. The Gaels also blocked eight shots; three by sophomore Justin Ginsburg. The Gaels drew 11 Seahawks kickouts, three by Brozovic, while being ejected 12 times. Ginsburg was disqualified with three ejections.
The Gaels scored on five of ten man-up chances, while Wagner capitalized on three of ten. Iona committed 13 turnovers but were strong on shooting accuracy scoring 16 goals on 29 shots.
Brozovic needed only 22 seconds to score his first and put Iona on the board first. With 5:41 left in the opening period, Wachowski upped the Gaels lead to 2-0 and Rodriguez followed it up with another net-rattler 75 seconds later for a three goal cushion. On their next possession, the Seahawks finally got on the board to trim the home team's lead to two. But Brozovic's second goal of the period put Iona back up three 3:11 left. The Maroon & Gold and Seahawks traded goals over the final of the first quarter.
Two straight goals from Hudak put Iona up five 7-2 with 5:46 to go in the second period. After a Wagner goal cut Iona's edge to four at the 4:09, Hofer's shot bounced off the Seahawks goalie's hand to put the Gaels back up five just 28 seconds later. Wagner scored with the final goal of the first half and Iona entered intermission with an 8-4 edge.
The visitors took advantage of a man-up chance 1:26 into the third period, then Brozovic's third goal gave Iona a 9-5 edge with 6:30 on the clock. The Seahawks answered 13 ticks later, but Rodriguez found the back of the net on the Gaels next trip down the pool with 5:56 remaining. Back in the shallow end, Wagner cut the Iona lead back to three, 10-7, but Brozovic's red-hot scoring gave Iona back a four-goal lead with 3:30 left. After another Seahawk man-up goal, Hofer's second score put Iona back up four at the 1:53 mark. Nineteen seconds later, Wagner cut Iona's edge back to three, 12-9, going into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter opened with Wagner scoring to trim Iona's lead to two. Torres came up huge blocking a Seahawks five-meter penalty shot with 6:44 left, but Wagner's third unanswered score pulled the visitors within one, 12-11, just 29 seconds later. After Lloyd missed a five-meter penalty shot, Refaat ended the Gaels offensive drought with a goal at 5:11, putting the Maroon & Gold back up by a pair. Again the Seahawks got within one, Brozovic's fifth score restored a two-goal home edge, 14-12, on Iona's next possession. After Hudak drew a Seahawks five-meter penalty, Rodriguez buried his shot in the net as Iona went up three with 4:11 remaining. Hudak hit his own five-meter penalty shot 53 ticks later to seal the win.
COACH THOUGHTS
Tonight's win gave Iona head coach two reasons to celebrate – a "learning" victory and a "great" sendoff for his assistant coach
Alex Williams, who takes over as Siena College's head women's water polo coach next week.
"Today was a great day for our team," Kelly said. "We've lost so many close games this year. A win like this is huge in learning how to become a winning team. It was great to send assistant coach
Alex Williams off with a W in his last game as a Gael."
UP NEXT
This weekend the Gaels travel to Erie, PA, for three non-league matches. Iona faces host Pennsylvania State Behrend on Friday at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Gaels take on Mercyhurst University at 9 a.m., and Gannon University at 11:30 a.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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