NEW LONDON, CT – With today's two non-conference road wins, the Iona men's water polo team improved to six wins and seven losses with a 19-12 win over Johns Hopkins University and a 24-13 victory over host Connecticut College this afternoon at the Jane Cadwell Lott Natatorium.
Iona 19 Johns Hopkins 12
Mounting a 6-2 lead at the end of the first period, Iona led by as much as six goals in a 19-12 win over Johns Hopkins in this afternoon's first game. Freshman Pavle Musikic led the Maroon and Gold (6-7 overall, 0-1 NEWPC) with eight goals, while junior Rastko Jevdjovic had three goals. Graduate student Trippe Bauman, senior Luksa Vlasic and sophomore Matthew Mischlich scored two goals each. Graduate student Mohamed Refaat and freshman Hugh Coyle added one score apiece. The Gaels scored 19 goals on 31 shots and made 13 assists with three each Jevdjovic and Vlasic.
In goal, sophomore Orlando Hernandez had 13 saves on 26 Blue Jays shots, including blocking a five-meter penalty shot, made one steal and had 12 goals against. On defense, the Gaels made 12 steals with three by Jevdjovic and blocked two shots. Iona drew six Tigers kickouts with four by Musikic, including one five-meter penalty, while being ejected 12 times, including one five-meter penalty. Iona scored five goals on seven man-up chances, while Johns Hopkins had seven goals on 13 opportunities. The Gaels turned the ball over 23 times. Scanlon won all four swim offs.
In the opening 1:08, Musikic scored two straight goals for a 2-0 Iona edge. Mischlich found the back of the net to put Iona up three 3-0, but Johns Hopkins answered on its next chance to cut the Gaels edge to two 3-1 with 3:56 left in the opening period. After the teams traded goals with Musikic recording a first-period hat trick, Coyle restored a three-score Iona lead with 2:10 remaining. With eight ticks left, Bauman buried a five-meter penalty shot to up the Gaels edge to four 6-2 going into the second period.
After Jevdjovic's goal opened the second quarter, the Blue Jays scored on a man-up chance to pull within four 7-3 with 6:33 to go. Musikic's fourth score restored Iona's five-goal cushion 8-3, but Johns Hopkins answered with another man-up score to trim the Gaels lead back to four 8-4 at the 5:44 mark. The Blue Jays followed Musikic's fifth goal with three straight scores to get within two 9-7 with 1:31 on the clock. With 1:08 to go, Jevdjovic's second goal put Iona back up three 10-7 at intermission.
Four consecutive Iona scores from Mischlich, Musikic and two by Vlasic gave the Gaels a six-goal 14-7 advantage with 3:55 left in the third period. Following Hernandez blocking a five-meter penalty shot, the Blue Jays scored twice to pull back within five 14-9 with 3:02 to go. After Bauman's second goal, Johns Hopkins trimmed the Iona margin back to five with 1:26 on the clock. With 57 ticks left, Jevdjovic's hat-trick goal restored a six-score 16-10 Gaels lead going into the fourth period.
Just 29 seconds into the final period, a Johns Hopkins man-up goal trimmed the Iona lead back to five 16-11. After two Gaels goals from Refaat and Musikic, the Blue Jays capitalized on a man-up chance to get within six 18-12 with 2:55 remaining. With 45 ticks left, Musikic's eighth goal sealed the 19-12 win.
Iona 24 Connecticut 13
Back in the pool only an hour after defeating Johns Hopkins, the Iona offense struggled in the first half, then took off on a seven-goal run which resulted in a double-digit fourth quarter lead in a 24-13 win over host Connecticut College. Sophomore Jayden Arana led the Maroon and Gold with five goals on five shots, while Vlasic and Musikic had four goals each. Refaat scored three goals, and Jevdjovic had two. Bauman, senior Schuyler Newberger, freshman John Barrett, freshman Roberto Perez-Puente, freshman Daniel Raz and freshman Ryan Tannis scored one goal apiece. The Gaels scored 24 goals on 42 shots and made 17 assists with three by Vlasic.
In goal in the first half, freshman Eric Capiener had two saves on 12 Camels shots, and had six goals against. In the second half, freshman P.J Bartzen had five saves on 15 Camels shots, made two steals, one assist and had seven goals against. On defense, the Gaels made 21 steals with seven by Refaat and five by Jevdjovic and blocked two Camels shots. Iona drew five Camels kickouts, including two five-meter penalties, while being ejected five times with two five-meter penalties. Iona scored five goals on six man-up chances, while Connecticut did not score on five opportunities. The Gaels turned the ball over 14 times. Iona won two of four swim offs.
With 58 ticks gone in the match, Musikic got on the board first, but the hosts answered on a five-meter penalty shot with 5:09 remaining to tie the game at one each. Two straight Gaels goals from Vlasic and Bauman gave Iona a two-goal 3-1 edge with 4:12 on the clock.Connecticut answered with two consecutive scores to retie the score at three each, but Musikic restored a one-goal 4-3 Gaels edge with 55 seconds left in the opening period.
After Jevdjovic put Iona back up two 5-3, Connecticut scored on its next chance to get within one 5-4 with 5:36 to go in the second period. Two more Gaels goals by Arana and Musikic restored a three-goal 7-5 edge until the hosts answered with two goals of their own to slice the Iona lead back to one 7-6 with 2:55 on the clock. In the closing 1:20, Iona mounted a 3-0 period-ending run with goals from Arana, Musikic and Refaat for a 10-6 halftime advantage.
Just 1:43 into the third period, Refaat scored two second straight goals followed by Vlasic's second for a six-goal 12-6 Gaels advantage with 5:50 remaining. Continuing a 7-0 Iona run, Vlasic struck again to up the Iona edge to seven 13-6 just 1:10 later. Connecticut responded with two straight scores to cut Iona's advantage back to five 13-8 at the 3:16 mark. Vlasic and Jevdjovic answered with two more goals which restored a seven-score 15-8 margin with 1:51 left.
Refaat tacked on two more goals in the opening 1:28 in the final period, then the Camels cut the Gaels edge to eight 17-9 with 6:26 left in regulation. Barrett's first Gaels goal followed by Arana gave Iona a ten-goal 19-10 edge until the hosts scored with 4:27 left to cut the Gaels lead to nine 19-10. The teams swapped goals with Arana notching his fourth score for a 20-10 Iona lead with 3:20 left. The goal trading continued into the final three minutes with Perez-Puente scoring his first Iona goal, followed by Raz, Tannis and Newberger to seal the 24-13 win.
UP NEXT
Next weekend, the Gaels continue their home schedule with three Northeast Water Polo Conference matches at Hynes Pool. On Saturday, Iona takes on number-14 ranked Harvard University at 4 p.m. On Sunday, the Gaels host number-19 ranked Brown University at 10:30 a.m., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 3:30 p.m.
