ANNAPOLIS, MD – After this morning's 16-4 loss to Navy, the Iona men's water polo team picked up its first season win here this afternoon with a one-goal 12-11 victory over Mount Saint Mary's University in the 2021 Navy Open hosted by the United States Naval Academy.
GAME ONE SUMMARY Navy 16 Iona 4
Managing only one goal in the first half, Iona fell 16-4 to host Navy in this morning's match. In his second game for the Gaels, in his hometown, freshman
Trippe Bauman led Iona with two goals, while junior
Mohamed Refaat and freshman
Luksa Vlasic had one score each. Iona scored four goals in 25 shots with no assists.
In goal, junior
Kyle Laufenberg made nine saves on 24 Midshipmen shots with 14 goals against, and freshman
Diego Gomez made 6 saves on 8 Navy shots and two goals against. On defense, Iona made 12 steals with three by Refaat. Iona drew nine Navy kickouts with four by Vlasic while being ejected two times. The Gaels turned the ball over six times. Iona did not score on five man-up chances, while Navy capitalized on one of two.
After scoring first with 2:44 gone in the match, Navy reeled off four unanswered goals for a 5-0 lead going into the second period. With four straight goals, including a five-meter penalty score, Navy upped its lead to 9-0 with 2:34 left. Bauman finally got Iona on the board at the 1:35 mark as the Gaels trailed 9-1. Navy tacked on two more goals in the closing 1:21 for a 11-1 halftime lead. In the first half, Iona had one goal on 14 shots.
Vlasic scored only 39 seconds into the third period, followed by Refaat to get Iona within eight 11-3 with 5:34 on the clock. After the Midshipmen hit a five-meter penalty shot, Bauman's second score trimmed the host's edge to eight 12-4 with 2:36 remaining. In the closing 39 seconds, Navy added two more goals for a 14-4 advantage going into the final period. In the fourth quarter, the hosts had two straight goals as Iona failed to score.
GAME TWO SUMMARY Iona 12 Mount Saint Mary's 11
After leading by as much as six goals in the third quarter, the Maroon & Gold were outscored 6-1 for the rest of the match, but held on for their first season win by a single goal. Vlasic led Iona with three goals on four shots, while Refaat, sophomore
Andrew Miller and freshman
Luka Nastic scored two goals each. Seniors
Michael Feeley,
Justin Ginsberg and sophomore
James DiSalle had one goal apiece. Iona scored 12 goals on 32 shots and made eight assists with two each by Refaat and Nastic.
In goal, Gomez made 17 saves on 28 Mountaineers shots with 11 goals against and two steals. On defense, Iona made 18 steals with eight by Refaat and blocked three shots. Iona drew eight Mountaineers kickouts with three by Vlasic, while being ejected 12 times. Vlasic was disqualified with three ejections. The Gaels turned the ball over eight times. The Maroon & Gold scored one goal on four man-up chances, while Mount Saint Mary's capitalized on one of eight.
With 46 seconds gone in the match, Mount Saint Mary's struck first, then Nastic answered to knot the game at one with 6:23 left in the opening period. On the Gaels next possession, Vlasic found the back of the net to put Iona up one 3-2 with 5:26 to go. Taking advantage of a man-up chance, the Mountaineers tied the score at three until Nastic's second goal restored the Iona one-goal lead 3-2 at the 3:18 mark. With a last-second Mountaineers goal resulted in a 3-3 tie going into the second quarter.
Miller needed only 24 seconds to put Iona back up by one, followed by Vlasic's five-meter penalty shot for two-goal 5-3 Gael edge with 5:51 on the clock. Miller slammed home another five-meter penalty chance as Iona took a three-goal 6-3 lead with 3:36 left. Continuing a 3-0 Iona run, Refaat gave the Gaels a four-goal lead 7-3 just 1:11 later. A Mountaineers goal with 1:54 to go trimmed the Gaels lead to three 7-4 at intermission.
Twenty-nine seconds into the third quarter, a Mount Saint Mary's five-meter penalty shot narrowed the Iona advantage to two 7-5, but Feeley answered 20 seconds later as Iona went back up three 8-5. That started a 4-0 Iona run with goals from Vlasic, Refaat and DiSalle as the Gaels led by six, their largest lead, 11-5 with 5:30 left. Two straight Mountaineers scores sliced the Gaels edge back to four 11-7 at the 3:02 mark. Ginsberg scored 1:02 later for a five-goal 12-7 Iona lead with 2:04 going into the fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers opened the fourth period with two straight scores to pull within three 12-9 with 6:38 remaining. With two more goals, Mount Saint Mary's took off on a 4-0 run to cut the Iona margin to one 12-11 with 1:18 on the clock. After two timeouts, the Gaels managed to hold the ball for the final minute to seal the win despite not scoring in the final period.
COACH THOUGHTS
Despite three opening-weekend losses, Iona head coach
Brian Kelly was please with his squad's overall effort, especially the first season win.
"We had a lot of positives that came out of our opening weekend most notably our first win," said Kelly, now in his twenty-seventh season at the helm. "We've got a lot of work to do and the guys are motivated to get better."
UP NEXT
The Gaels will continue on the road in the 2021 Princeton Invitational to face Johns Hopkins University at 4:45 p.m. this Friday, Wagner College at 8:30 p.m. Friday, and a rematch with Navy at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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)
