In the opening game of the season on Sept. 19, the Iona rugby team showed their superiority, beating New Paltz on the road 55-6.

Iona was able to rack up a majority of their points towards the end of each half, which was key to the victory.

On Sept. 26 Iona hosted Sacred Heart for the second game of the year.  The Gaels overmatched Sacred Heart from the very beginning and easily took care of them 62-14.

In the first half, Iona converted four of six tries and outmatched Sacred Heart 10 tries to two by the end of the game. En route to the victory, Iona showed speed and strong open field tackling.

After starting the season 2-0, the Gaels would dominate once again by crushing Hofstra 53-10 on Oct. 3 on the road. Matt Cavataro, Mike Kinsella, and Max Dolenk each had two tries apiece while Tim Downey, Colin Murray, and Kyle Granby all had one try. Dolenk was also able to make four conversions during the game.

In the closest game of the year, Iona beat William Patterson 19-14 on Oct. 10 at home.

Coming into the match both teams were undefeated in division play and looking to stay unbeaten.

During halftime, Iona was up 12-0, but WPU came back to make it 12-7. The score was close for the whole game as it got to 19-14 Iona and at the very end WPU had a chance to take over and put away the game, but Iona came through and shut the door for the win. 

John Vaughan, Max Dolenk and Shawn Verma came up big by all having one try. Dolenk was strong again by having two conversions.

Iona would then beat Seton Hall 22-15 on Oct. 17 on the road. Kinsella, Vaughan, Granby, and Robert Tobin helped lead Iona to another victory by each converting on tries.

Dolenk also made one conversion in the crucial victory. Iona was victorious again and outworked Seton Hall in a game that involved a lot of ball movement and minimum penalties on each side. Even though Iona missed on three tries in the first half, the Gaels had a solid 15-0 lead.

Heading into halftime, Seton Hall closed the gap to 15-5. At the start of the second half, both teams’ tempers started to flare as Seton Hall lost their flanker to a red card. Due to this, Iona was up a man for the 40-minute second half.

The Pirates would eventually tie the match, but Iona put it away with the final score to make it 22-15.

In a non-division game Iona overpowered Syracuse 38-10 during Homecoming at Iona. Syracuse did not stand much of a chance as Iona opened the score up in the second half with a string of breakout plays.

After being 5-0 and atop the league, Iona took on Marist the next day on Oct. 24 and crushed host Marist. With the win, Iona stands atop the division as the only undefeated team.

So far this year, Iona has scored the most points in the division and has the largest point differential total.

The Gaels look to complete an undefeated regular season as they close out the regular season hosting Vassar at Mazzella Field on Oct. 30.