NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University men's soccer team pushed it's winning streak to six games on Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 shut out victory over Saint Peter's. Four different Gaels scored in front of the Homecoming crowd at Mazzella Field.

Graduate student Camil Azzam Ruiz found the back of the net for the sixth straight game and pushed his season total to 10 goals. Graduate student Matias Morales along with sophomores Sergio Gonzalez Fernandez and Frederik Johnson Oee recorded their first goals of the season. Junior Nacho Alfaro Monge and senior Azal Dottin combined for three saves in the victory.

THE RUNDOWN

Iona controlled the pace for the first 10 minutes of action, including a scoring chance on the penalty kick by Azzam Ruiz that was saved by the diving Pedro Alves. The Gaels broke open the scoring in the 11th minute as Gonzalez Fernandez one timed a deflection off the right post and in for the 1-0 lead.

Azzam Ruiz was able to get redemption on the penalty kick in the 23rd minute after getting fouled on his drive toward the goal. He slotted his shot in the lower right quadrant past the reach of Alves to push the Iona lead to 2-0.

Iona's defense held the Saint Peter's offense at bay, not allowing a shot for 35 minutes before the first opportunity from Reiss Skeen was saved by Alfaro Monge.

The second half saw Iona work in a controlled and calculated effort with possession of the ball.   After a long pass was picked up by the Peacocks back row, Azzam Ruiz slipped past the defender and stole the ball. His shot was knocked away by Alves but Morales was there on the trail to knock the ball in for the 3-0 advantage in the 72nd minute.

Saint Peter's threatened late in the contest, earning three corner kicks over a three minute stretch but were denied by the Gaels defense. Iona's final goal came on a well defended cross that was picked up by freshman Francesco Borla. The rookie forward drove about 30 yards with the ball before finding Johnson Oee who used a juke on the charging Alves to score in the final goal in the 88th minute.

GOALIE/TEAM STATISTICS

Alfaro Monge made two stops in 78 minutes of action and Dottin came on for the final 12 minutes, recording one save. Alves totaled nine saves for Saint Peter's. The Gaels out shot the Peacocks 22-7, including a 13-3 margin for shots on target.

AROUND THE MAAC

With the win, Iona moves into a tie at the top of the league standings with Manhattan with 15 points in league play. The Jaspers (5-1) fell to Niagara (2-2-2) 1-0 in Riverdale. Siena (4-1) also earned a 1-0 decision over Quinnipiac (0-3-2). Mount St. Mary's (2-2-1) picked up a 2-1 victory in Buffalo over Canisius (0-4-2). Marist (2-1-2) and Fairfield (0-4-1) round out the Saturday slate with a 7 p.m. kick-off in Fairfield.

UP NEXT

The Gaels travel up to Marist for a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday (October 18) at Tenney Stadium.