NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University men's soccer team used a total team effort in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship first round to defeat Quinnipiac, 5-0 at Mazzella Field on Sunday afternoon. The Gaels tallied a season-high 17 points as a team and scored a season best in goals in the decisive win over the Bobcats.
Sophomore
Alvaro Maneiro paced the Maroon & Gold offense with his first career hat trick. Graduate student
Yannik Vogel recorded his first Iona goal in the first half. Graduate student
Storm Schmidt Hollensted picked up his third goal on the year. Four different Gaels netted an assist led by a two-assist game from junior
Calle Sjoberg.
In goal, sophomore
Fernando Alves Schmelz registered a career-high seven saves in his fourth shutout of the season.
GAME SUMMARY
Iona opened the scoring in the 16
th minute as Sjoberg picked up the deflected ball just 30-yards from the goal. He looked to split the defenders and the ball found Maneiro just outside the 18-yard box. The forward used three dribbles past the Bobcats back line and rifled a shot to the far post and in for the early 1-0 favor.
Schmelz made his second save of the opening stanza shortly thereafter as Quinnipiac looked for the equalizer.
As the first half winded down, the Gaels struck once more to push the advantage to 2-0. Vogel buried the open look off the pass from rookie
Enbiya Bolur in the 33
rd minute for the two-goal cushion into the break.
Iona kept the momentum rolling out of the restart with a breakaway attempt in the 51
st minute. Sjoberg led the charge with a pass out wide to rookie
Andrey Mora Bravo who then dished it right back to him. The midfielder found Schmidt Hollensted on the trail to bury the right footed one-timer to the far post for the 3-0 lead.
The Gaels kept the offensive pressure rolling as graduate student
Chris Morandi led another breakaway just three minutes later. Morandi sent a pass out to the right side for junior
Jaime Roman Jr. who split the defense and sent a forward pass to Maneiro. A right-footed shot found the back of the net for the brace and 4-0 Iona lead.
Iona capped the scoring in the 60
th minute as senior
Matias Mancheno lifted a perfect cross from the right side to connect with Maneiro in the center of the box for the header to bring the score to 5-0.
From there it was all Alves Schmelz who made five big saves in the final 28 minutes of play to preserve the clean sheet.
TEAM STATS
- The Gaels held a slight 12-10 advantage for shot attempts while the Bobcats led 7-6 for shots on goal.
- Quinnipiac led with four corner kicks while Iona attempted three on the day.
- A physical playoff battle saw 31 fouls called and two yellow cards handed out, one to each team.
AROUND THE MAAC
- The four-seed Fairfield Stags picked up a 4-1 victory over the five-seed Niagara Purple Eagles at Lessing Field.
UP NEXT
Iona will travel up north to two-seed Siena on Thursday, November 13 for a 1 p.m. matchup at Hickey Field in the MAAC Championship semifinals.