Iona College moved to 4-0 in the Liberty Conference MetNY Division after an impressive 48-17 defeat of AIC Thursday night.

It was a physical clash, as expected, but Iona's execution in set piece gave them a good platform from which to run their attacking pattern. The Gaels generally controlled how the game flowed, but they also committed repeated turnovers which is something the Yellow Jackets feast on.

"they were very dangerous in open space," said Iona Head Coach Paul Burke of the AIC players. Aic had several good scoring chances, and converted on some, but not all and some skill breakdowns hurt them too. (For example, AIC would get a penalty in the ruck thanks to their good defense, take the lineout, and then lose the lineout.)

Iona got on the scoreboard first with the forwards surging to the line. AIC tried the same thing after taking the lineout on a penalty, but they were held up in-goal.

Watch the entire game here>>

That worked to the Yellow Jackets' advantage as the goalline dropout played right into their strength, and they finally found a gap around the ruck to tied it up 7-7. The game remained that way until Iona unleashed some nice open-field ball-handling of their own for a try in from halfway. Iona's aggressiveness of first phase saw them cut through the AIC defense for their third—another well-taken team effort. 

AIC exploited some ball-watching from Iona to spread it wide and score in the corner to come closer at 17-14 and then added a penalty goal just before halftime to tied it up at 17-17. But Iona was impressive in the second period. They cleaned up their mistakes, scored early to retake the lead, and seemed to get more aggressive as the game worse on.

All American No. 8 Cam DiGiorgio was excellent on the night, scoring a try and logging a massive number of tackles. He got involved in plays across the field. Flyhalf Vili Hopoi was very good sunning the attack and when he took the ball up himself he was difficult to stop. His try in the second half pushed Iona to 29-17 and put them in control. He was also strong on defense.

AIC drops to 1-1 in conference play, but they have plenty more rugby to play. Next up for Iona they host Big Ten leaders Indiana.