BRONX, NY - In the annual battle for the Dr. Francis X. Judge Cup, the Iona men's water polo team fell 14-5 to no.16 ranked Fordham University tonight at the Colonel Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center. The Rams retained the Judge Cup for the third straight year and now leads the series 6-3.

Freshman Luksa Vlasic led the Maroon & Gold with three goals on six shots, while junior Mohamed Refaat and sophomore James DiSalle scored one goal each. The Gaels made five goals on 28 shots and made one assist. Iona scored on one of 13 man-up chances, while the Rams scored two times on seven chances.

In goal, junior Kyle Laufenberg made two saves on 11 Fordham shots and one steal with seven goals against. Sophomore Diego Gomez made eight saves on 16 Fordham shots and had one steal with seven goals against.
 
On defense, Iona made eight steals with two each by junior Lester Machado and Refatt.  Iona drew 13 Fordham kickouts with three each by senior co-captain Michael Feeley, Machado and Vlasic, while being ejected seven times. The Maroon & Gold turned the ball over 12 times.

GAME SUMMARY

With 1:04 gone in the match, Fordham got on the board first, followed by three unanswered goals on its next three possessions for 4-0 advantage with 4:18 remaining in the opening period. Refaat ended the Gaels offensive drought on a man-up goal to trim the home lead to three 4-1 with 3:53 remaining. 

The Rams answered 43 ticks later to go back up four 5-1. After another Fordham score, Vlasic got the Gaels back within four 6-2 with six seconds left. A Ram goal four ticks gave the home squad a 7-2 advantage going into the second period.

In the second period, Iona rallied to outscore Fordham 2-1. After a Rams goal with 4:38 remaining, two Iona goals from Vlasic and DiSalle narrowed the home edge to four 8-4 at halftime. Four unanswered Fordham scores, including a man-up chance and five-meter-penalty goal gave the hosts a 12-4 advantage going into the final period as Iona failed to score in the third quarter.

After two consecutive Rams scores, Fordham took a 13-4 lead with 6:02 left in regulation. Vlasic scored his third goal with :55 seconds left for the Gaels only second-half goal. Despite the final score, Iona head coach was pleased with his squad's continued progress toward a successful season.

COACH THOUGHTS

"I was really happy with our compete level tonight," Kelly said.  "We've been playing at a very competitive level.  We're putting ourselves in a ton of situations to be successful.  Once our execution catches up, we're going to be very good."

The Cup is named after Dr. Francis X. Judge, a water polo pioneer at Fordham, and the founder of the Hudson Valley Water Polo Club. Dr. Judge was the father of five Iona water polo players, including three Goal Club Hall of Famers: Greg '84 (HOF '03) and volunteer assistant coach, Matt '86 (HOF '09), Ray '87 (HOF '09), Mike '94 and Kevin '95. Chris '80 (Fordham HOF '96), his second oldest son, starred for Fordham, and also coached the team.

UP NEXT

Iona travels to Brooklyn next Wednesday to take on St. Francis College at 7 p.m.

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