The Iona men’s water polo went 1-2 at the Princeton Invitational this past weekend, playing games against John Hopkins, Wagner and Navy.  

The Gaels started off their three-game stretch with a splash, grabbing a win over John Hopkins in their first game of the invitational. Thirty-two minutes was not enough time for the two teams as the game went into three overtimes. Freshman Luksa Vlasic, who scored seven goals in the game, scored the game winning and golden goal for the Gaels with 1:35 left in the third overtime period. The Gaels refused to break despite squandering a lead late in the fourth quarter. They were able to hold on for forty-one total minutes of play leading to a 15-14 victory.  

Junior utility man Tim Bergamini views this game as the start of big things to come for the Gaels.  

  “I felt we played a great team game,” said Bergamini. “We came together when we needed to and were able to get the outcome we wanted. There’s only more to come for this team.”  

There was no time for rest as the Gaels had a game against Wagner College following their victory. However, the second game for the Gaels did not yield the same outcome as the first. It was an uphill battle for the Gaels as they were down seven goals at the intermission by a score of 12-5.  

Seven seemed to be the unlucky number for the team as they would end up losing the game by a score of 20-13. Game one hero Luksa Vlasic continued his scoring ways despite the result, tallying six goals in the loss. 

The third game for the Gaels was a rematch of last week’s game against Navy at the Navy Invitational, which the Midshipmen won by a dominating 16-4 score. The Gaels were determined to come out more prepared.  

They would end up losing the rematch by a score of 12-7, but it was a much closer outcome and the team showed signs of improvement compared to the previous matchup against Navy.  

On the topic of improvement, this season is already more successful than last season. The Gaels had as many games cancelled as they competed in last year due to COVID-19. Iona played in only four games that year and was unable to get a win in any of those chances. The Gaels will try to finish out the remaining games on the schedule, preferably all in the win column.