NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Iona women's lacrosse program extends their winning streak to three games after a come from behind win over Merrimack, 15-14. Iona entered the fourth quarter down 13-9, but a 6-1 run over the final 15 minutes sealed the W for the Maroon & Gold.

GAME SUMMARY

The Maroon and Gold were led on offense by seniors Leah Marshall and Gabriele Thornton who netted a hat trick each. Emily Stewart and Kira Varada both scored two goals each, the rest of the goals came from Amber Brewster, Alexa Maggiacomo, Katherine Meyer, Emma Rippon, and Megan Collins.The Gaels assisted on 7 of 15 goals with COllins leading the way once agains with three of her own. 

Freshman Sofia Votto started the game for the Gaels, she was relieved by sophomore walk-on Paige Ghilani, Ghilani allowed four goals and made Iona's lone save of the day. As a team the Maroon & Gold picked up 20 ground balls and caused 7 turnovers. Freshman Kate Kurger had the team high four ground balls.

Iona's offense came out a little sluggish to start the game, the Warriors of Merrimack scored four goals in the first nine minutes to take a 4-0 lead. Stewart was able to cash in on a free position goal to get the Gaels on the board. After the visitors were able to regain a four goal lead Thornton was able to capitalize on her free position opportunity to make the deficit only three goals. With 30 seconds left in the opening quarter Merrimack extended their lead back to four. 

A big second quarter was in store for the Gaels. After trailing 6-2 to start it, Iona went on a four goal run and knotted the score back up at 6-6. Over an eight minute span the Iona goals came from Thornton, Brewster, Meyer, and Varada. Two quick goals within a minute of each other by Merrimack gave them a two goal lead with three minutes left in the first half. Varada found the back of the net with only :31 seconds left on the game clock, making it 8-7.

Just as we thought the Gaels would enter half time down a goal, Senior and captain Leah Marshall knotted the score up at 8-8 with only :13 ticks left. Despite having the momentum going into the halftime break, Iona's offense came out flat, only scoring one goal in the third quarter. Merrimack was able to out score Iona, 5-1 in the third. The Gaels lone goal score in the opening quarter of the second half came from the Long Island native Gabby Thornton. 

Iona faced a four goal deficit entering the final 15 minutes, but great coaching adjustments on both sides of the field opened the opportunity for the comeback W. The Maroon & Gold's defense did not let the Warriors score for 13 minutes. Over those 13 minutes the Gaels found the back of the net six straight times and took a two goal lead with less than 2 minutes left to play. Merrimack made it a one goal lead with 1:52 left, the Warriors had one more opportunity with :24 seconds on the clock but a fantastic stand by Iona's defense squashed that chance and Iona was able to run the rest of the clock for the thrilling 15-14 victory.      

UP NEXT

Iona goes back on the road to Sacred Heart on Wednesday March 2, scheduled start time is 3 pm.   

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