Did the Gaels just have bad luck for the first half of the season? The Iona women’s soccer team has had to go through multiple defeats in the last two months. The early games resulted in a high demand for growth. This included growth as individuals and as a team in strength, in speed and in confidence.

This process was difficult to achieve, but the Gaels were willing to mature together as a team and Coach Mike Barroqueiro and assistant coach Bailey Flood gave them strong base to do so.

“At times we definitely have felt a bit unlucky with some calls that have gone against us and really swayed the momentum in recent games, but I think our young group is growing and maturing everyday and learning from the experience of previous games,” Barroqueiro said.

In its last two matches the Gaels were able to grow. The Gaels played Marist Sept. 30 at home and learned from the Marist match that it cannot take its feet off the accelerator after it scores. The Gaels took a 1-0 lead early with a goal from senior Kerrie Deignan in the 24th minute, but ended up losing 4-1. Barroqueiro emphasized not letting up next game, and Iona came back with a 2-1 overtime win against Siena as sophomore Nicole Paulucci netted her the winner in the second minute of overtime. Both goals were scored by  “Cubby” Paulucci and assisted by sophomore Carly Haden.They were the “dream team” everyone has waited for.

“We’ve had quite a few players step up and elevate the levels of their play over the past few weeks,” said Barroqueiro. “It was important after a tough game against Marist that our leaders step up and help raise the level of the group and I thought Cubby Paulucci did just that. She’s always been one of our hardest workers and for her to finally get the opportunity to reward herself with a few goals was huge for us. Those types of performances can propel teams in the right direction, and hopefully we can build off that this