The Iona College Gaels clinched their second consecutive MAAC regular season championship this past weekend at Villanova University.

After a tough overtime loss to rival Marist College in the opener of MAAC play back in March, the Gaels came back strong on an 11-game winning streak to take the title, giving them the No. 1 seed heading into MAAC championships in two weeks.

The Maroon & Gold faced Marist a second time this season at Siena College in hopes of revenge from the earlier season loss, and they did just that. The Gaels finished a 12-10 game over the Red Foxes.

Iona was led by senior Cecilia Leonard’s four goals, two assists and three kickouts drawn. Sophomore Amy Olsen scored four times as well and contributed three steals and drew an astounding six kickouts. Sophomore Erika Lauraitis had two goals and one steal, while senior Mackenzie Mone and junior Alyssa Turza each had one goal and one steal in the win. Sophomore Marisa Gaynor had 14 saves and two steals in net.

The following weekend Iona registered a key 10-9 win over Wagner College to put them into a three way tie for the first. Heading into the Villanova tournament, a 4-0 record was crucial in claiming the MAAC title.

On day one the Gaels came out strong posting a 14-4 win over Villanova and 15-7 over St. Francis College. Mone led the way for the Gaels offense scoring six goals against Villanova, while Gaynor allowed just one goal in a half of play and recorded two saves. Freshman Devin Green had three saves in a relief role. St. Francis was blown away by Turza’s five goal performance, putting them up 2-0 for the weekend.

On day two, Iona posted an impressive 22-7 win over the Virginia Military Institute, allowing each field player to notch a goal. In the final game of the regular season, the Gaels faced Wagner for a second time. Iona duked it out for over 6 quarters of play to come out on top 11-10 in sudden death overtime. The game winning goal was scored by Leonard, with 1:30 left in sudden death, off of a five-meter penalty shot drawn by sophomore Georgina Lee on a breakaway attempt.

Lauraitis led the way with four goals for the Gaels, adding one assist and two steals in the game. Leonard scored two goals, had one assist and drew two kickouts. Turza scored twice for the Gaels while Olsen, Mone and freshman Katie Stelnicki each scored once. Olsen had one assist and two kickouts drawn, while McGregor had one assist. Gaynor had nine saves and an astonishing five steals in net, and was previously named defensive player of the week after making 23 saves in the net in pivotal wins over Marist and Siena.

Captains Mone and Leonard felt that the win over Wagner proved the versatility and depth of the team.

“Two of our starters were excluded from the game at the end of the third quarter, and another two were one ejection away from being rolled,” the captains said.

Bench players Lee and Stelniki came up big when the team needed them. Stelniki tied up the game in regulation to send it into OT, and Lee drew the game winning penalty shot.

“When games go into overtime and even sudden death, those are the games I live for…having that exciting nervous, scary feeling and coming out on top always makes a team appreciate one another and what each player can bring to the table,” said Leonard. “It’s a test of our desire to win, something that we struggled with early on in the season.”

Coach Brian Kelly was proud of his team’s performance over this past weekend.

“I think this weekend was important in showing how the girls have learned to work as a team,” said Kelly. “Everyone is stepping up and I couldn’t be more proud. We still have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks, but we have a very talented team and I think that will show come championship time.”

The Gaels will begin the chase to a second MAAC Championship on April 28 playing No. 4 seeded Villanova at Marist College.