For the first time in nine years, the Iona College men's soccer team will compete for a trip to the NCAA Tournament. With a win in the MAAC Championship game against top-seeded Saint Peter's, the Gaels would advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
 
Iona punched its ticket to the MAAC title game with a 2-1 win at Quinnipiac on Thursday. Josh Plimpton broke the ice for the Gaels, scoring the first goal of the contest on a beauty of a pass from Najim Romero. Romero would score the decisive goal after drawing a foul inside the box; he promptly buried the PK and gave the Maroon & Gold a comfortable two-goal advantage in the first half. 
 
The Gaels will be on the road again as they head to Jersey City, New Jersey to take on the league's top seed, the Saint Peter's Peacocks. Saint Peter's won the regular season title, concluding the year on a nine-game winning streak. 
 
The Peacocks survived a scare against fourth-seeded Marist in the semifinal round; Saint Peter's trailed 2-1 for about 30 minutes in the second half before Tom Climpson leveled the match in the 81^st minute. Jordan Jowers would score the go-ahead goal in the 87^th minute to put the Peacocks up for good, securing their spot in the MAAC final.
 
Home field could be important for Saint Peter's, who are a perfect 7-0 at Jaroschak Field this season. One of those wins came over Iona back on October 19, when the Peacocks played most of the match down a man but still rallied to defeat the Gaels 3-1.
 
This contest will be littered with All-MAAC performers. Iona brings the MAAC's Defensive Player of the Year, Malcolm Moreno, along with All-MAAC first team forward Mauro Bravo and MAAC All-Rookie Team selection Ignacio Antequera-Sanchez. The Peacocks feature the MAAC's Offensive Player of the Year, Dominic Laws, who led the conference in goals (11) and points (29), along with the conference's unanimous Coach of the Year, Julian Richens.
 
Besides Laws, who was also voted to the All-MAAC first team, other Peacocks' award winners include Jowers (All-MAAC First Team), Tom Coulson (All-MAAC Second Team), Jamie Davis (All-MAAC Second Team), Philip Smith (All-MAAC Second Team), Climpson (MAAC All-Rookie Team) and Herman Wulff (MAAC All-Rookie Team).
 
This contest is a rematch of the 2010 MAAC Championship, which St. Peter's won 2-1 in Baltimore to secure their second MAAC Championship. The Peacocks are making their fifth appearance in the championship game, winning in 2003 and 2010 while losing in 2006 and 2007. Iona will be making its third appearance in the MAAC Championship, looking for the program's first title ever. The Gaels lost in 2010 to Saint Peter's and in 1995 to Loyola Maryland.
 
The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ and you can follow along via the live stats as well. The winner of this game will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and find out who they are playing on Monday during the selection show, which will be streamed online at NCAA.com.

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