NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo was defeated by NCAA Division I Iona University 27-7 on Saturday afternoon on the campus of Connecticut College despite a hat-trick from junior
Spyros Rapsomanikis (Kerkyra, Greece) and eight saves from goalkeeper
Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio).
Wheaton fell to 1-5 after the loss while the Gaels earned their fourth win of the season to improve to 4-10.
Rapsonmanikis was the Lyons' leading scorer as he led the side with a triplet of goals. The all-around utility player also drew an exclusion, but the Lyons failed to convert on any of their powerplay chances. Junior utility
Brian Otto (Escondido, Calif.) tallied a goal to join
Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.),
Stefan Kecman (Chevy Chase, Md.) and
Ethan Vince (Dexter, Mich.) as the only other goalscorers for the Lyons. Boyer and first year
Leo Upson (Woodside, Calif.) split the goalkeeping duties right down the middle. Boyer led his teammate with eight saves in one half.
Iona was led by first year Logan Hardel (King of Prussia, Pa.) as he finished with a team-leading four goals. First year Charlie Harbour (Fort Washington, Pa.) had three goals and one assist while junior Brett Grady (Naperville, Ill.) matched his teammate with a hat-trick of goals. Six other Gaels had two goals and three more scored a single goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Chin Lee (Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago) had three saves and helped his own cause with a goal from a five-meter penalty.
Wheaton started off on the back foot as Grady got the scoring started just 90 seconds into the contest. Hardel made it 2-0 a minute later, which Grady took as a cue to add another goal, which he did only 30 seconds later. Another 30 seconds elapsed and the Gaels scored again to go up 4-0. Vince put the Lyons on the board with an unassisted goal, but it would be the only goal for them in the first quarter. Iona scored twice more and the first break came with a 6-1 deficit for Wheaton.
Iona scored twice in the opening two minutes of the second quarter before Wheaton finally found the back of the net through Ruemelin. First year
Sean Spooner (Saline, Mich.) picked up the assist, and the Lyons began to find a foothold in the second frame. Rapsomanikis fired home his first goal of the game soon after to bring the Lyons to an 8-3 deficit. A drawn exclusion and subsequent five-meter penalty was converted by Rapsomanikis, but Harbel canceled it out with a goal 80 seconds later. Kecman and Otto both scored down the stretch to give Wheaton five goals in the second quarter. The Lyons outscored the Gaels in the second frame, 5-4, but still trailed their opponent 10-6 at halftime.
Wheaton swapped goalies at halftime, and Upson was due-up in the second half. He was welcomed into the game by an eleven-goal quarter from the Gaels. Rapsomanikis put one on the board with two minutes left in the third, but the Gaels answered with three in the final minute to put themselves up 21-7 going into the final quarter.
The Lyons were held scoreless in the final quarter, despite close calls from Rapsomanikis and Vince. Iona stacked up six more goals in the final eight minutes, driving their score up to 27-7. Wheaton dropped their opening game on Saturday to the Gaels by that exact score.
Wheaton will face off against Connecticut College later today. Iona will make the trip back home as they get ready to face Long Island University on September 30th at 7:00 pm.
