Iona men’s soccer coach James Hamilton continues to show progress for Gaels each season
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Iona College men’s soccer head coach James Hamilton led the Gaels to a recent 3-1 victory against Siena in an important Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game on Wednesday, making their record 3-3-1 in the MAAC so far.
Hamilton has been a part of Iona since 2015 when he joined the Maroon and Gold as assistant coach to then-head coach Fernando Barboto. Hamilton has since evolved the Gaels to a team that competes at the top nearly every season. The highlight of Hamilton’s Iona career came in 2019, when he led the Gaels to their first-ever MAAC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
The win was an important one for the Gaels, as it moved them up the MAAC table from seventh to fourth. The victory also shows the results Hamilton can produce out of this squad. Recently, the Gaels have been in a back-and-forth with their results since their tie to longtime rivals Manhattan on Sept. 29. They haven’t had a solid win or loss streak since then, flip-flopping between both.
This is a big contrast from the 2019 championship winning team, who’s record was 5-1-1 in the MAAC by this time around. The team wasn’t completely consistent, but it was much more so than the 2021 squad. This isn’t to say they’ve only gone downhill since then. The 2020 season, with all the troubles of the pandemic, didn’t treat the Gaels well. They managed to scrounge up two wins in seven games, losing in the first round of the MAAC Championship to Rider 4-1, a team they beat 2-1 just a couple months earlier.
Since then, Hamilton has helped pull the squad back to better heights. The beginning of the 2021 season had a rough start, with three straight losses. After a tie to Holy Cross, Hamilton got some better results out of the team with three straight wins. Since then, inconsistency has struck. Hamilton has shown he can bring consistency back to the team and has proven he can bring victory to the Gaels.
Hamilton also has the help of some long-time players on the team, like Lenworth Lopez and Joseph Cusano. Both graduate students were a part of the title-winning team and have spent years under Hamilton’s philosophy on the pitch. The experience they have is surely a big help for Hamilton to translate his coaching abilities to the younger players on the team.
The Gaels have just three more games in the MAAC before the championship rolls around. If Hamilton can get more consistency out of his team and produce results, it’s likely that he’ll be able to get Iona yet another MAAC Championship title.
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