Iona Falls to Top-Seeded Stanford in NCAA Championship Quarterfinals
MAAC Sports
ANN ARBOR, MI - The eighth-seeded Iona College women's water polo team opened up play at the 2011 NCAA Water Polo Championship with a 22-7 loss to top-seeded Stanford in the quarterfinal round. The Cardinal used a 6-3 first quarter and 8-2 second quarter to distance themselves from the Gaels and move to on the semifinals.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first minute of play, the Gaels got a goal from senior Maggie Wood to even the game at one. Stanford would score twice in 18 seconds to take the lead before a goal by freshman Amy Olsen cut the lead to one. It would be the be the closest the Gaels would get before a 3-1 run to close out the first.
Stanford scored the first three goals of the second quarter before Iona got a goal from junior Mackenzie Mone. The Cardinal would would go on to outscore Iona 5-1 the rest of the half, including two goals by junior Melissa Seidemann.
Iona held the Cardinal to only four goals in both the third and fourth quarters, but were held to only two goals by Stanford goalkeeper Kate Baldoni.
Iona's leading scorer was Mone, who had two goals for the Maroon & Gold. Junior Cecilia Leonard, Wood, Olsen, sophomore Alyssa Turza and senior Sam Cody rounded out the scoring for Iona.
Stanford was led by Seidemann's five goals. Freshman Kaitlyn Lo and Alyssa Lo each had three goals for the Cardinal while senior Kim Krueger and sophomore Alexis Lee eached scored twice. Junior Pallavi Menon, sophomore Jillian Garton, sophomore Vee Dunlevie, sophomore Victoria Kennedy, junior Cassie Churnside, junior Monica Coughlan and sophomore Annika Dries had one tally apiece.
In net, senior Kathleen Link made two saves in two-plus quarters of action before freshman Marisa Gaynor made five saves in relief. For Stanford, Katie Baldoni made eight saves in three quarters of action. Amber Oland had four saves in the second quarter.
Iona will take on the loser of the 4/5 matchup between UC Irvine and the University of Southern California tomorrow at 3:00 pm. The two winners will meet in the semifinals at 4:30 pm.