GREENWICH, CT - The No. 20 Iona College women's water polo team officially clinched a berth in the 2011 NCAA Championship with a 13-7 win over the University of Redlands in the Play-In Game at the Greenwich YMCA Saturday afternoon.
The Gaels never trailed in the contest, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first two and a half minutes of the contest, and lead 4-0 after one. Though outscored 4-2 in the second, the Gaels went into the half up 6-4. Iona would then outscored the Bulldogs 5-0 in the third to put the game out of reach for the SCIAC Champions.
The Gaels' top scorer was senior Maggie Wood, who dropped in six goals and added one assist. Wood now has 115 goals on the year, tops in the nation. Junior Mackenzie Mone assisted on six Iona scores, and added one goal and two steals. Junior Cecilia Leonard had one goal, three assists, two steals and two field blocks in a complete effort. Sophomore Alyssa Turza had three goals for the Maroon & Gold, while freshman Amy Olsen had two tallies. Senior Kathleen Link made eight saves for the Maroon & Gold.
The leading scorer for the Bulldogs was junior Jaime Nippert, who had two goals and two assists. Junior Dianna Melancon, sophomore Moana Tuipulotu, junior Jamie Paul, senior Chandler Weeks and junior Casey Sripramong each had one goal for Redlands.
The Gaels will take on Stanford, the number one seed and number one team in the nation, in the first round of the 2011 NAAC Championships Friday May 13 at 6:00 pm.
Goals - Iona: Wood 6, Turza 3, Olsen 2, Leonard 1, Mone 1
Redlands: Nippert 2, Melancon 1, Tuipulotu 1, Paul 1, Weeks 1, Sripramong 1
Assists - Iona: Mone 6, Leonard 3, Wood 1
Redlands: Nippert 2, Corona 1
Ejections - Iona: Leonard 1, Wood 1, Olsen 1
Redlands: Nippert 1, Tuipulotu 1, Tunioli 1, Corona 1, Nussbaum 1