Following a disappointing weekend series against Syracuse and Brockport that resulted in two losses, the Iona College rugby football club responded with a 27-15 win against Fordham.

The Gaels started off slow against the Rams, but were able to come back strong in what was a difficult home game due to the slick weather conditions.

Leading the way in the effort were four successful tries from upperclassmen Michael Kinsella, Shawn Maloney, Michael Nulty and Andrew Rossi.

When recapping the win, junior forward Sammy Prestano was relieved. “It felt good seeing all the hard work we put in during the week pay off,” Prestano said.

Now with a 3-2 record, Iona traveled to Rutgers to take on the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers was nursing a 1-4 record heading into the match, though they came out strong to start the game.

The Scarlet Knights started off with a try from Danny Zinoviev, which led to an exchange of scores until the half, which saw Iona up 26-19.

Unfortunately for Rutgers, the second half was completely different from the first.

Although they did tie the score at 26 early in the new half, Iona went on to score 24 unanswered points to take a 50-26 win out of Piscataway.

Prestano had plenty of praise for his fellow Gaels when describing the team effort against the Scarlet Knights. “Everyone contributed and did their job.” Prestano said. “We let them stick around for a little but we were able to wear them down with solid tackling and a well-planned attack.”

The plan that Iona had against Rutgers also stood out to Prestano. “Our structure was very sound and our weak side attack was a major part of our victory,” he said.

A week later, the Gaels played in front of their largest crowd of the year for homecoming against United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA).

The Gaels started off the game strong, taking a 14-0 lead after scoring on two tries. But the Mariners fought back with five points.

With a 14-5 lead, the Gaels caught a major break when USMMA had a man sent off. Center William Castillo got his marching orders after nearly starting a brawl after a skirmish at midfield.

Now down a man, the Mariners went down thanks in large part to a strong offensive push by Iona during the second half.

The Gaels ultimately prevailed by a 31-12 score line. Five separate players tallied tries for Iona in the winning effort: upperclassmen Rossi, James Russo, Matt Shea, Max Lowry and Stephen Lennon.

Patrick Davis went three for five on point after conversions.

With two matches to go, the Gaels find themselves in fifth place in the Empire League standings. Iona currently has seven bonus points, tied for the most in the league with Syracuse.

The two remaining games that Iona rugby will play in 2012 will be at Mazzella Field against Stony Brook on Nov. 3, and at St. Bonaventure on Nov. 10.