SANTA CLARA, Calif — Except for two first-quarter ties, the Iona University men’s water polo team led the rest of the way in an 18-15 victory over the University of California-Merced, in the first of four matches this weekend for the Gaels at the Julian Frazier Tournament hosted by Santa Clara University and San Jose State University.
Junior co-captain Pavle Musikic led the Maroon and Gold with five goals on 12 shots, while junior Ryan Tannus and freshman Tate Wilson both scored three goals. Junior Daniel Raz and sophomore Samson Williams each added two goals, while junior Hugh Coyle, junior co-captain Brett Grady and freshman Charlie Harbour contributed one goal each.
In goal, junior Eric Caplener recorded seven saves on 28 Merced shots with 15 goals allowed.
The Gaels scored 18 goals on 41 shots and recorded ten assists. Defensively, Iona collected ten steals and blocked five shots. The Gaels drew 11 kick-outs, including four by Musikic, who also drew two five-meter penalties. Iona was ejected 10 times, including one five-meter penalty, and committed 15 turnovers. The Gaels converted five-of-10 man-up opportunities, while Merced scored three man-up goals on 11 chances. Grady won three-of-four sprints.
With just 15 seconds elapsed in the match, Musikic put Iona on the board for a 1-0 lead before Merced tied the game at one with 5:30 remaining in the opening frame. Raz restored a one-goal Gaels’ lead at 2-1, but the Bobcats answered on their next opportunity to tie the match at two-all with 4:21 on the clock. Consecutive goals by Harbour and Tannus gave Iona a 4-2 advantage by the 1:59 mark. The Bobcats pulled within one at 4-3, before Musikic and Tannus each scored their second goals to extend the Gaels’ lead to three with 44 seconds remaining in the opening eight minutes. Raz’s buzzer-beater gave Iona a four-goal advantage, 7-3, heading into the second quarter.
Coyle extended Iona’s lead to five, 8-3, 35 seconds into the second quarter prior to UC-Merced netting four goals, including a successful five-meter penalty shot and a man-up stroke, to cut the Gaels’ advantage to one, 8-7, with 1:42 remaining in the first half. However, Iona responded with consecutive goals from Tannus and Williams to take a 10-7 lead into halftime.
After Coyle missed a five-meter penalty shot, the Bobcats capitalized on a man-up opportunity to pull within 10-8 with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter. Two consecutive goals by Wilson extended Iona’s lead back to four, 12-8, at the 4:18 mark prior to Grady and Wilson continuing a 4-0 run by the Gaels in flipping the scoreboard to 14-8 with 2:30 remaining in the frame.
Merced answered with three straight goals to cut Iona’s lead to three at 14-11 with 1:10 to play in the third quarter. Musikic’s third goal restored a four-goal advantage, 15-11, but the Bobcats beat the buzzer to trim the Gaels’ lead to three, 15-12, heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
Merced pulled back to within a pair at 15-13 35 seconds into the second quarter prior to Musikic’s fourth goal restoring a three-goal Iona advantage at 16-13 with 4:32 to play in regulation. After another Bobcats’ goal, Musikic struck again to give the Gaels a 17-14 lead at the 1:33 mark. Just ten seconds later, Merced cut the deficit to two, 17-15, but Williams sealed the 18-15 victory with a goal in the final 48 seconds.
While pleased with his squad’s tournament-opening win, Iona head coach Brian Kelly was disappointed the Gaels could not put the game away sooner because of unforced turnovers and costly exclusions.
“It was a good start to our trip,” said Kelly. “We had chances to put the game away, but we had some unforced turnovers that really hurt us. Every time we built a lead, we turned it over or took a bad exclusion that let Merced back in.”
“Eric made some really big saves down the stretch to seal the game. Tate Wilson had a monster game for us.”
Information courtesy Iona University Athletics Communications
