The Iona College men’s water polo team couldn’t clinch a win against St. Francis College, losing 14-12 after two three-minute periods in overtime on Wednesday evening.

“In the most important moment of the game, sometimes, you just have to be a lot smarter,” head coach Brian Kelly said.

The Gaels started out strong in contrast to the previous game against Wagner College, leading 3-2 by the end of the first period. Senior Andrew Judge led the attack well, scoring two out of the three goals in the first period.

Going into the second period, the attack was crippled by the Terrier’s defense, holding the Gaels to only one goal. Iona’s defense was lacking and St. Francis took advantage, scoring four goals throughout the period. 

 “Our powerplay, which needs to be better,” Kelly said. “We’ve been watching a lot of game film on it. We also have been putting ourselves in situations in practice to be more successful.”

 With the help of powerplays, the Gaels held St. Francis at bay, not allowing any goals and scoring four, moving into the fourth period 8-6.

“We were pretty good,” Kelly said. “We had some key goals when it mattered and it kept us in the game.”

The Gaels played well in the second half, and Kelly says the support from the home crowd definitely helped them stay in the game.

“It’s always good to have your home crowd [cheering] loud,” Kelly said.

Late in the game, fatigue become a real factor and it sometimes hindered their play.

 “There’s two types of fatigue. One is mental and one is physical,” Kelly said. “You only have four time-outs and you can’t sub all of the time, so you have to fight through certain situations by not letting mental fatigue enter the equation.”

In the final period, with 20 seconds left in the half, the Terrier’s attack was too much for the Gaels’ defense to handle, and they scored to make it 11-11 and force overtime.

The Gaels went into overtime on a good note, scoring one in the first period of the extra session to make it 12-11, but they couldn’t keep up with St. Francis. The Gaels allowed St. Francis to score two goals to make it 13-12. By the end of the second period, the Terriers put one more passed the Gaels to make it a final score of 14-12.

Kelly is optimistic about the team’s play, despite the mistakes that led to the last-minute goal.

“You have to learn ways to win and we’re getting there,” Kelly said. “We found a lot of good things that work for us. We have to build off those good things and crack those bad things.”

The next game for the Gaels is on Sept. 30when they take on both MIT and Brown in a doubleheader at home.

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