The Iona College Men’s Water Polo Team competed in the Eastern Championships on Nov. 18- 20 at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. The Gaels played a series of three games fighting for a chance to make it to the NCAA finals.

The Gaels suffered a tough 14-3 loss to No. 19 Princeton in their first contest of the weekend. Princeton came out strong with a five-goal run in the first two quarters but was answered with Iona goals by sophomore Jonathan Hernould and freshman Tyler Mancuso. 

Senior Cameron Hudson chipped in the last goal before the Tigers scored six consecutive goals. Sophomore Stefen Hill made eight saves in the loss.

Iona advanced to the next match against Johns Hopkins University. The Blue Jays proved to be a tough competitor as the Gaels failed to hold on and suffered a 13-7 loss.

JHU’s main point of attack fed off of their man-up goal opportunities, converting six of 13, while the Gaels converted only two of seven. Iona opened the scoring with a goal by freshman Jake Lloyd 30 seconds into the game. Hudson, freshman Ian Thompson and sophomore Bryan Driscoll also contributed goals, but it was not enough to stop the Blue Jay attack as the Gaels trailed 8-4 at the end of the first half.

Hopkins continued their lead with a four-goal run to start out the third quarter. Goals by senior Matt Joslyn, Mancuso and Hudson closed the scoring gap, but their efforts fell short.

Coach Brian Kelly felt that the team was not satisfied with its end of the season performance at Easterns.

“It was a great accomplishment getting there and the lead up to it. We played extremely hard all tournament, but we didn’t play smart,” said Kelly. “At this level of play you just can’t afford to make