The No. 20 Iona College women’s water polo team headed to Cambridge, Mass. last weekend to compete in the Harvard Invite.

Despite their tough losses the weekend before at the Princeton Invite, the Gaels came out strong, boasting an impressive 3-1 record for the tournament.

The Gaels first faced No. 12 San Jose State to kick off the invite. The two teams were tied at four at the half, however, the third quarter proved to be Iona’s downfall as the Spartan’s took the lead on a 5-2 run. The Gaels hung close until the very end but could not make up the deficit, falling 12-9 at the end of the fourth.

Sophmore Amy Olsen led the Gaels with three goals, two steals and drew four kickouts.

Senior Mackenzie Mone contributed two goals, four steals and one field block.

Junior Alyssa Turza had two goals and two steals, while sophmore Erika Lauraitis had one goal and two steals.

Senior Cecilia Leonard had four assists and two steals. Sophmore Marisa Gaynor had 12 saves and four steals.

“It was a solid back and forth game vs. one of the top teams in the nation,” said head coach Brian Kelly. “We played solid defense throughout and were an opportunity away from really having a chance to get over the hump.”

Later that Saturday afternoon the Gaels picked up their program’s 250th career victory with an 11-4 win over Mercyhurst.

Iona came out strong with a 6-2 lead at the end of the first quarter to cruise to an easy win. Against the Lakers, Mone notched three goals and three steals on the defensive end. Lauraitis scored three goals and had one assist.

Leonard recorded two goals, one assist and four steals, while Turza had three goals and one steal. Senior Caitlin McGregor had two assists and three steals.

Olsen anchored the defense with an astounding nine steals, while Gaynor had five saves in net along with one steal and one assist.

“A solid team win with excellent defense all around,” said Kelly. “Amy was outstanding defensively and our two D’s Leonard and Mone denied any inside game. Any time you can hold a solid team like Mercyhurst to four goals; it’s a good defensive effort.”

Iona headed into day two matching up against two competitors that they suffered close losses to at the Princeton Invite the previous weekend.

The Gaels took the challenge head on picking up a 12-10 win against Bucknell.

Mone kicked the offense into gear with five goals to go along with three steals. Turza found the net four times and had two steals of her own.

Olsen had two goals, three steals, while Leonard had one goal, two assists and two steals. Gaynor had eight saves in net as well as two steals.

Iona faced Harvard in the last game of the weekend. The Crimson led by as many as four goals during the contest, but timely scoring by Iona put the Gaels back in the game.

Iona took advantage of the last 30 seconds in regulation, putting a shot from nine meters off of the post to send the match to overtime.

With the score tied at nine, the teams were set to play two three-minute overtimes. The two teams traded possessions until Harvard gained a two goal advantage in the second overtime of play.

The Gaels responded with a goal with 1:48 left to play. The Crimson ran out the clock on their possession giving Iona just 32 seconds to make a play to tie the game.

The Gaels did just that with a bar-in backhand from Mone to send the game into sudden death. With 34 seconds into the sudden death period Leonard sealed the game for the Gaels with her golden goal for the victory.

Leonard had five goals overall, along with two assists and one steal. Olsen had four goals and two steals, while Mone finished with one goal, one assist, two steals and two kickouts drawn.

Lauraitis had a goal and four steals. Gaynor tied her own record with an impressive 18 saves in net.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for and I’m not talking about winning, it’s about coming together with all this talent and heart to achieve one goal,” said Leonard. “If we can take this weekend and put it into every game we play from here on out we will be in great shape when it comes to the MAAC tournament.”

The Gaels are back in action next weekend at the Marist Invitational in Poughkeepsie, NY.