March 27, 2007

Final Stats

New Rochelle, NY - The Wagner Seahawks (1-5) dropped a hard-fought game 10-8 to Iona (4-2) earlier today at Mazzella Field. Despite the setback senior Jessica Ellis (Fairport, NY / Fairport) had an outstanding game scoring four goals while assisting on one other to lead the Seahawks.

The Gaels won the battle of the ground balls (26-17) while forcing 26 Wagner Turnovers compared to just 16 for Iona.

Iona scored the first goal of the game before the Green & White tallied three-straight goals off the sticks of Ellis, sophomore Cara Gonzalez (Syracuse, NY / Westhill) and freshman Janine Bright (Commack, NY / Commack). The Gaels got one of those goals back before Ellis lit the lamp for her second goal of the game. Iona would then cut the deficit to one at 4-3 on a goal off the stick of Emily Skarda. Bright then hit paydirt for her second goal of the game on a free position attempt and senior Jenelle Spatarella (Rocky Point, NY / Rocky Point) found the back of the net to put Wagner up by their largest margin of the game at 6-3 with 8:00 to go in the first half.

The lead would be short-lived as Jaclyn O'Leary scored two of her team-high four goals to highlight a 3-0 Iona run to close the half and even the score at 6-6.

After halftime, both teams picked up their defense as neither team scored for over nine minute. The Seahawks regained the lead when Ellis scored off a nifty pass from sophomore Kelly Blundin (Plymouth Meeting, PA / Plymouth Whitemarsh) to put Wagner up 7-6 with 20:15 to go. Iona tied the game at 7-7 with another O'Leary goal before Ellis scored her fourth goal of the game off an Amanda Scalzo (Sr., Cheshire, CT / Cheshire) pass to make it 8-7. From that point on it was all Iona as they scored three straight goals and held the Seahawks scoreless over the final 14:07.

Wagner kept the game close despite being outshot 39-23, using strong goalie play from freshman Alex Johnson (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) and sophomore Amy Jones (Jarrettsville, MD/North Harford). The pair combined for 14 saves as Jones yielded just four second-half goals while recording nine saves in falling to 0-4 on the year.

The Green & White return home to host Mount St. Mary's on Friday at 3:30 pm.