NEW LONDON, CT - After notching its second win of the season over Pennsylvania State University Behrend, the Iona College men's water polo team split two exhibition matches. The Gaels persevered over Saddleback College and suffered a tough defensive loss to Cerritos College at the Connecticut College Tournament.

Iona 15, Penn State Behrend 7

Leading by three at halftime, Iona held PSUB to two goals in the second half for a 15-7 win.
 
Junior All-American talent Patrick Hudak led Iona with four goals. Junior Brett Hofer and freshman Lester Machado scored three goals each. Senior co-captain Quinn Lloyd had two scores, and senior co-captain Phil Wachowski, sophomore Andrew Brozovic and sophomore German Rodriguez had one goal apiece. The Gaels had eight assists with two from Hofer.
 
In goal, senior Jorge Andres Torres made four saves on nine PSUB shots and had four goals against. The starter also had three steals in the first half. Senior Michael Banks made four saves on 13 PSUB shots and dished out one assist with three goals allowed in the second half.
 
On defense, the Gaels made 16 steals with three each from Hudak and Rodriguez. Iona scored on four of eight man-up chances, while PSUB taking advantage of four of nine. The Gaels drew eight Nittany Lions exclusions with two each from Hofer and Brozovic, while being ejected eight times. Iona had 12 turnovers.
 
Just 21 seconds into the match, Lloyd put Iona on the board on the Gaels first possession, followed by Hudak 43 ticks later for a 2-0 lead. The Nittany Lions answered to trim the Gaels lead to one with 4:47 remaining, but Lloyd's second goal put Iona back up 3-1 only 13 seconds later.  After PSUB pulled back within one two straight Hofer scores upped the Gaels edge to three 5-2 with 1:03 left.           
 
Brozovic's goal with 58 seconds gone in the second period gave Iona a four-goal 6-2 edge. PSUB hit a five-meter penalty shot to cut the Gael edge back to three with 4:08 remaining. Hudak and Machado scored a second period goal apiece, but Penn State Behrend continued to answer and remained within three at the intermission, 8-5.
 
Three consecutive Iona goals from Hofer, Hudak and Machado gave Iona six-goal cushion 11-5 with 4:02 left in the third period.  After PSUB ended the Maroon & Gold run, Hudak's fourth goal put Iona back up six, 12-6, going into the final period.
 
Rodriguez's breakaway goal 38 seconds into the final period, followed by Wachowski's score increased Iona's advantage to eight 14-6 with 5:08 remaining.  Iona cruised to the 15-7 finish over the final minutes of the game.

Iona 19, Saddleback 10

After leading 7-4 at the end of the first quarter, Iona allowed Saddleback, hailing from Mission Viejo, CA, to pull within one 9-8 at halftime. The Maroon & Gold outscored the Gachos 10-2 in the second half for the day's second win in an exhibition match.
 
Lloyd, Wachowski, Hofer and Rodriguez led the Gaels with three goals each, while Brozovic and sophomore Michael Feeley had two scores apiece.  Hudak, sophomore Justin Ginsburg and freshman Mohamed Refaat added one score each. Wachowski and Hofer were a perfect three goals on three shots each.  The Gaels passed out nine assists with three by Hofer, and scored 19 goals on 37 shots.
 
On defense, Iona made 11 steals with two each from Hofer and Wachowski, and freshman Ryan Lunsford blocked a Saddleback shot. Iona drew five Saddleback exclusions with two by Hofer, while being ejected eleven times. Machado was disqualified with three ejections. Iona scored on three of four man-up chances, while Saddleback scored on four of nine. The Gaels turned the ball over six times.
 
In goal, Banks made six saves on 16 Saddleback shots and allowed eight goals in the first half. Torres made two saves on four Saddleback shots and allowed two goals in the third quarter. Freshman Kyle Laufenberg made six saves on eight Saddleback shots and did not allow a goal in the fourth period.
 
Brozovic needed only 50 seconds to put Iona up 1-0, but Saddleback answered with two straight scoring possessions. It held a short 2-1 lead with 6:27 left in the opening period until Wachowski and Refaat mounted their own 2-0 run to tie the match, then build a one-goal edge 3-2 at the 4:52 mark. The back-and-forth continued until Iona got three unanswered goals by Feeley, Lloyd and Rodriguez to light up the scoreboard and go by three, 7-4, going into the second period.
 
The Gaels continued a five-goal run into the second quarter with Rodriguez and Lloyd giving Iona a five-goal advantage 9-4 with 7:21 remaining. With 5:53 on the clock, Saddleback began a 4-0 surge to cut the Iona lead to 9-8 by halftime.
 
In the third period, the Gaels stormed the Gachos. With 13 ticks gone, Wachowski put Iona back up two 10-8. After the lead was cut to one again, Wachowski's third score at the 5:40 mark sparked a 5-0 Gael run for a six-goal advantage 15-9, with 1:22 remaining. The Gachos trimmed the Gaels lead back to five 15-10, until Feeley's second goal put Iona back up six 16-10 going into the final period.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Gael defense held the Gachos without a goal, while the offense tacked on three more scores from Hofer, Hudak and Rodriguez.

Cerritos 8, Iona 5

Down 6-1 in the opening quarter, Iona rallied to pull within three goals at intermission. However, both teams could manage only one second-half goal each as Gaels fell 8-5 to Cerritos, traveling from Norwalk, CA, in an exhibition match.
 
Brozovic led Iona with two goals. Ginsburg, Rodriguez, Refaat had one score each. Refaat made Iona's two assists. The Maroon & Gold scored five goals on 38 shots.
 
In goal, Torres made 12 saves on 24 Cerritos shots and swiped one steal.               
 
On defense, the Gaels made two steals and blocked two shots. Iona drew 12 Cerritos exclusions, while being ejected nine times. Iona committed thirteen turnovers. The Gaels scored on two of 12 man-up chances, and the Falcons capitalized on one of nine.
 
The Falcons scored three consecutive goals, including two man-up scores, for a 6-1 advantage with 3:48 remaining in the second quarter. Twenty-nine seconds later, Brozovic tipped in Ginsburg's missed shot to cut the Cerritos edge to four 6-2. Cerritos answered on its next trip down the pool, but Brozovic and Ginsburg hit two straight scores in the closing two minutes that trimmed the Falcons lead to three 7-4 at intermission.

In the third quarter, each squad managed just one goal each. After Quinn missed two five-meter penalty shots, Refaat pulled Iona within two 7-5 with 5:36 remaining.  The Iona defense held Cerritos without a goal from 3:01 in the second quarter to 2:51 in the third, when the Falcons upped their edge to three 8-5. Neither team scored in the final period.

COACH'S THOUGHTS

Pleased with his squad's "energy," Iona head coach Brian Kelly hoped that his players can bring that into Northeast Water Polo Conference play.
 
"It was great to have our All-American center Patrick Hudak back," Kelly said. "We are a different team without him.
 
"We played with a lot more energy than we have all year. Hopefully, we will bring that energy into league play."

UP NEXT

Iona opens NWPC play at Hynes Pool against St. Francis Brooklyn College on Wednesday, October 2, at 7:30 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Be sure to follow Iona College athletics on all social media platforms:
ICGaels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)
Iona Water Polo: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)

Tweet #ICMWP
Tweet #GaelNation