SAN DIEGO, CA - The seventh-seeded Iona College women's water polo team
fell to sixth-seeded Princeton 9-5 Saturday afternoon in the consolation
round of the 2012 NCAA Championship, held at the Aztec Aquaplex on the
campus of San Diego State University.
Brittany Zwirner put the Tigers on the board with 6:46 remaining in the first quarter as she buried a cross-cage shot. Katie Rigler expanded the lead to a pair slightly more than three minutes later as she skipped a shot into the back of the cage to continue a scoring run by Princeton.
However, Iona stormed back prior to the conclusion of the opening frame as junior Alyssa Turza flipped a shot into the upper left corner of the cage off a pass from sophomore Amy Olsen 14 seconds after Rigler's goal. Senior Cecilia Leonard knotted the game at two-all less than a minute later at 2:48 by ripping a shot into the upper left 90 of the cage on a man-up chance.
Princeton countered the Gaels' scoring luck with a barrage in the second quarter as a trio of goals pushed the Tigers to a 5-2 lead at halftime.
Turza started Iona's comeback bid just 48 seconds into the third quarter as she collected a loose ball after a foul and rifled home a direct shot at 7:12 to pull her squad within 5-3.
Following a tally to return the Tigers' lead to three at 6-3 and register the eventual game-winner, the Gaels converted a man-up chance as Leonard launched in a shot to the lower right side off a centering pass with 4:39 on the clock to make it 6-4.
Iona made the game interesting less than four minutes later as Turza completed a hat-trick by torquing home a tally and pulled the Gaels within 6-5 with an eight-minute quarter left to play.
Princeton countered with another 3-0 in five and a half minutes to move on to the fifth place game tomorrow. Overall, Prineton outshot Iona 30-to-21 in total shots, including a 22-to-15 advantage in shots-on-goal. In net, Gaynor finished with 16 saves for the Gaels.
Iona will wrap up its season tomorrow when they take on Pomona-Pitzer in the seventh place game tomorrow at 3:00 pm.
Brittany Zwirner put the Tigers on the board with 6:46 remaining in the first quarter as she buried a cross-cage shot. Katie Rigler expanded the lead to a pair slightly more than three minutes later as she skipped a shot into the back of the cage to continue a scoring run by Princeton.
However, Iona stormed back prior to the conclusion of the opening frame as junior Alyssa Turza flipped a shot into the upper left corner of the cage off a pass from sophomore Amy Olsen 14 seconds after Rigler's goal. Senior Cecilia Leonard knotted the game at two-all less than a minute later at 2:48 by ripping a shot into the upper left 90 of the cage on a man-up chance.
Princeton countered the Gaels' scoring luck with a barrage in the second quarter as a trio of goals pushed the Tigers to a 5-2 lead at halftime.
Turza started Iona's comeback bid just 48 seconds into the third quarter as she collected a loose ball after a foul and rifled home a direct shot at 7:12 to pull her squad within 5-3.
Following a tally to return the Tigers' lead to three at 6-3 and register the eventual game-winner, the Gaels converted a man-up chance as Leonard launched in a shot to the lower right side off a centering pass with 4:39 on the clock to make it 6-4.
Iona made the game interesting less than four minutes later as Turza completed a hat-trick by torquing home a tally and pulled the Gaels within 6-5 with an eight-minute quarter left to play.
Princeton countered with another 3-0 in five and a half minutes to move on to the fifth place game tomorrow. Overall, Prineton outshot Iona 30-to-21 in total shots, including a 22-to-15 advantage in shots-on-goal. In net, Gaynor finished with 16 saves for the Gaels.
Iona will wrap up its season tomorrow when they take on Pomona-Pitzer in the seventh place game tomorrow at 3:00 pm.
