Gaels comes up short in doubleheader
October 1, 2017
The Iona College men’s water polo team had a rough Saturday, losing 14-13 in sudden death overtime to MIT, and falling to Brown University 13-12 in the second game of a doubleheader.
“These are some of the better teams in the country and we had chances to beat both,” head coach Brian Kelly said.
The first of the doubleheader was against MIT, who were coming off of a solid 8-6 win against University of Redlands. They started out strong, putting seven passed the Gaels.
“We had too many ejections,” Kelly said. “We didn’t shot block well enough in the first half.”
Iona went into the second period with a much better performance, holding MIT to only one goal and scoring three goals, ending the first half behind, 8-7. Great goalkeeping from both sides caused difficulty to get goals, which caused the match to go into overtime.
After two periods of overtime, the score was 13-13 and the match went into sudden death overtime. The Engineers performed better in the long run and managed to score the game winning goal.
“We needed to move more,” Kelly said. “We couldn’t find out center the whole game because we didn’t move enough.”
At a certain point, luck became a big factor in the game, as players were tired and fatigued going into sudden death overtime.
“Guys are so tired at that point,” Kelly said. “Sometimes that’s what happens. Everyone’s tired and mentally fatigued. Sometimes it’s just about getting the ball in the net.”
The Gaels didn’t expect such a long game to occur, but that didn’t hinder them going into their game against Brown. They started off well, scoring six goals in the first half and shutting out the Bears in the first period and only allowing two goals in the second period.
“Our goalie was great,” Kelly said. “Our defense was very good and when that happens, you’re going to have good results.”
The Gaels held solid the whole game, keeping the score at 11-10 until the final seconds of the fourth period. Brown’s attack pushed through and scored, making it 11-11 and sending it into overtime.
By the end of the second period, Iona couldn’t keep up as the Bears scored twice, ending the match 13-12 after two periods of overtime.
“Our press has to be better,” said Kelly. “We’re playing great individual and team defense at times, but sometimes our team defense went away and that breaks it down a little bit.”
The team is hoping to perform better and more consistent going into future games.
“We need to work harder,” Kelly said.
The Gaels next game is on Sunday when they take on Harvard University.
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