BROOKLYN, NY – The Iona College men's water polo program fell to No. 17 St. Francis Brooklyn at the SFC Aquatic Center, 16-10. The Terries led from the get-go and surpassed a pair of Maroon & Gold hat tricks from rookie
Lester Machado and senior
Quinn Lloyd.
MATCH SUMMARY
Lloyd and Machado led the Gaels with three goals apiece. Senior co-captain Phil Wachowski, junior
Brett Hofer, sophomore Justin Ginsburg, and freshman
German Rodriguez scored one goal each. The Gaels made seven assists.
In goal, senior
Jorge Andres Torres made ten saves on 33 St. Francis Brooklyn shots and he collected one steal. In the final 2:43, freshman
Kyle Laufenberg made three saves on four St. Francis shots.
On defense, Iona made five steals and blocked one shot. The Maroon & Gold drew 12 Terriers kickouts, while being ejected eight times. Iona scored just one goal on 12 man-up chances, and St. Francis Brooklyn capitalized on three of eight.
Celebrating their senior night, the Terriers took advantage of a 6-5 chance to go up 1-0 with 1:03 gone in the match. The hosts tacked on two more unanswered scores for a 3-0 edge with 4:58 to go in the opening period. Machado got the Gaels on the board 1:24 later, but the Terriers scored on their next three trips down the pool for a 6-1 edge with 2:19 on the clock. Machado's second score trimmed the St. Francis Brooklyn lead to two and with seven seconds remaining, Wachowski pulled the Gaels within three, 6-3, going into the second period.
In the second period, the hosts reeled off three straight scores for a 9-3 lead with 2:28 remaining. Lloyd's goal cut the Terriers edge back to five, 9-4, with 1:02 left to intermission.
With 2:01 gone in the third period, Lloyd's second score cut the home lead to four 9-5, but the Terriers went back up five on their next possession with 5:36 to go. Two more St. Francis Brooklyn goals over the next minute put the Terriers up 12-5 with 3:35 left. Hofer began two goal Gael rally with 3:19 remaining, followed by Machado's third score to chop the home team's edge to five, 12-7, at the 1:40 mark. Thirty-six ticks later, the Terriers went back up six 13-6 going into the final period.
St. Francis upped its lead to 14-7 with 1:14 gone in the fourth quarter. Rodriguez's five-meter penalty score got the Gaels within six at the 5:20 mark. After Ginsburg's goal with 3:52 left, St. Francis answered within 11 seconds for a 16-9 lead. Lloyd added third goal two minutes later, but another home score sealed the win.
COACH THOUGHTS
"The first quarter killed us," Kelly said. "Our transition defense had a really slow start and buried us early. You can't get down that big to a good team like St. Francis."
UP NEXT
The Maroon & Gold travel to Massachusetts and Rhode Island this weekend for three NWPC concepts. The Gaels play at MIT and at No. 9 Harvard on Saturday, November 2. On Sunday, November 3, the Maroon & Gold play against the Brown Bears.
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