Iona Tabbed to Win MAAC Water Polo League in 2011
MAAC Sports
Edison, NJ - The Iona
College Gaels have been selected as the team to beat during the 2011 MAAC Water
Polo season, as determined by the conference's six head coaches in their annual
preseason poll.
Iona, who has finished as the MAAC Championship runner-up
the last two seasons, earned 33 points in the poll. Iona went 8-2 in conference
matches last season and 21-14 overall. Head coach Brian Kelly, currently in his
15th year, will be looking to guide the Gaels to their second MAAC
Championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Iona junior Cecilia Leonard was named the 2011 MAAC Water
Polo Preseason Player of the Year. Leonard, the reigning MAAC Offensive Player
of the Year, led the Gaels with 142 points (97g, 45a) a year ago. The
Plantation, Florida native also registered 50 steals and 12 field blocks in
2010. Leonard was named the MAAC Rookie of the Year in 2009.
Marist finished second in the poll with 31 points. Wagner
was third with 24 points, followed by Siena with 16. St. Francis-N.Y. (14) and
Villanova (8) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Leonard was named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team along with
teammates Kathleen Link and Maggie Wood, Marist's Rosie Paulie, Siena's Camille
Norman, St. Francis-N.Y.'s Andrea Dolnay, and Wagner's Lauren French.
Preseason Coaches
Poll
|
1.
|
Iona
|
33
|
|
2.
|
Marist
|
31
|
|
3.
|
Wagner
|
24
|
|
4.
|
Siena
|
16
|
|
5.
|
St. Francis (N.Y.)
|
14
|
|
6.
|
Villanova
|
8
|
Preseason All-MAAC
Team
|
Cecilia Leonard
|
Iona
|
|
Kathleen Link
|
Iona
|
|
Maggie Wood
|
Iona
|
|
Rosie Pauli
|
Marist
|
|
Camille Norman
|
Siena
|
|
Andrea Dolnay
|
St. Francis (N.Y.)
|
|
Lauren French
|
Wagner
|
Preseason Player of
the Year