NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Down only one goal at the end of the first period, the Iona men's water polo team could not maintain containment of No. 12 Harvard University at the Hynes Center Pool on Sunday afternoon. The Crimson remained undefeated and handed the Gaels a 19-9 Northeast Water Polo Conference loss.
GAME SUMMARY
Junior
Andrew Brozovic led the Gaels with three goals, while senior
Quinn Lloyd had two scores. Senior Phil Wachowski, senior
Daniel Savage, junior
Brett Hofer, and freshman
Lester Machado had one goal apiece. The Gaels made four assists on their nine goals. As a team the Maroon & Gold had 33 shots.
In goal, senior
Jorge Andres Torres made 11 saves on 25 Harvard shots. He had 13 goals against and four steals during the first three quarters. Senior
Michael Banks made no saves on five Harvard shots in the fourth quarter. Freshman
Kyle Laufenberg made one save on two shots and one goal against in the final 1:45.
On defense, Iona made 11 steals with three by Hofer. The Gaels drew 10 Crimson kickouts with three by Hofer, and were ejected eight times. Iona scored on five of ten man-up chances, while Harvard scored on five of eight. The Gaels committed 18 turnovers.
Harvard got on the board first with two minutes gone, followed by a five-meter penalty goal for a 2-0 lead with 5:37 left in the opening quarter. Two minutes later, Lloyd got the Gaels offense rolling. Hofer nailed a five-meter penalty shot 1:01 later to tie the game at one with 1:38 left. The Crimson regained a one-goal lead 3-2 on a five-meter penalty shot with 16 seconds remaining.
Harvard reeled off three straight goals for a 6-2 edge in the opening 3:52 of the second period. Iona took off on a 2-0 run on goals by Machado and Wachowski to pull Iona back within two with 2:42 left. Three more unanswered Harvard goals in the closing 2:27 gave the visitors a 9-4 advantage at halftime. After the period ended, sophomore
German Rodriguez's five-meter penalty shot bounced off the lower right bar.
After the Crimson scored, Brozovic's two straight goals got the Gaels within four 10-6 with 1:15 gone in the third period. Three more Harvard goals put the visitors up 13-6 going into the final quarter. Harvard made four straight goals to lead 17-6 until Savage found the back of the net with 4:15 left. After another Crimson goal, two consecutive Gaels scores by Lloyd and Brozovic cut the Harvard lead to 18-9 with 1:45 remaining. A Harvard five-meter penalty goal 16 ticks later sealed the win.
COACHES THOUGHTS
Although disappointed with losing "some close games" over the weekend, Iona head coach
Brian Kelly was "proud" of his team's overall performance.
"It was a tough weekend," Kelly said. "We were a bit short handed. I was proud of our efforts.
"We really battled and lost some close games. We need to play much smarter, fundamental water polo. If we had done that this past weekend, we would have had to more wins."
UP NEXT
The Gaels host No. 12 Princeton at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 12 at the Hynes Center Pool.
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