Iona College Releases 2009 Men's Schedule

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- The Iona College Department of Athletics has announced the Gaels 2009 schedule for the upcoming men's varsity season.

A participant in the 2007 and 2008 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship tournaments under the guidance of head coach Brian Kelly, the Gaels will seek to make a return trip to the league's penultimate event as Iona will compete against some of the nation's best teams from both the East and West Coasts.

The year will begin with four games on September 5-6 at the Navy Open on the campus of the United States Naval Academy before continuing on September 11-13 at Princeton University for the Princeton Invitational.  At Princeton, the Gaels will face Brown University, Johns Hopkins University and Bucknell University of the CWPA and perennial top-five nationally ranked the University of California-Los Angeles of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).

On September 23, Iona will play its only home game of the year as the Gaels will open CWPA Northern Division play against Queens College (N.Y.).

Two days later, the team will continue its road-warriror ways with a directional and coast change to the west to compete in the California Baptist University Invitational on September 25-27.

Following the return trip to New Rochelle, Iona will take on host Massaschusetts Institute of Technology (October 10) before battling Brown and host Harvard University (October 11) in a series of Northern Division games in Cambridge, Mass.

On the heels of another Northern Division game at Connecticut College (October 16), the Gaels will travel to Navy to take part in the CWPA North-South Crossover event (October 17-18) before going to the Bronx for a divisional rumble with Fordham University (October 28) to wrap-up the regular season.

The postseason will commence on November 7-8 as Harvard will host the Northern Division Championship with the top four teams from the tournament advancing to the Eastern Championship on November 20-22 across town at MIT.

If the Gaels can capture the Eastern Championship, Iona will make its first appearance on the national stage thanks to earning the league's automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Championship on December 5-6 at Princeton University.