(EDWARDSVILLE, Ill., Sept. 30) – The McKendree University men's water polo team defeated Monmouth College to earn its first win at home, and dropped a contest to Salem International University on Friday night at the Chuck Fruit Aquatics Center in Edwardsville, IL.
 
In the first contest of the night, McKendree took on the Salem International University Tigers at 7 p.m. Though they were defeated, the Bearcats put up a tough battle.
 
FIRST QUARTER
McKendree would open the scoring in the game, with a tally from freshman utility player Alex Nicholas (Rolling Meadows, IL/Fremd High School). However, 30 seconds later Salem would have a response to tie the game at one. Five minutes later, the Tigers found the back of the net again to make it 2-1, in their favor. Freshman attacker Luc Gregory (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach High School), wouldn't let their lead stand for long with a hard shot, beating Salem's goal keeper. Gregory would beat the goalie one more time in the quarter with a buzzer beater, to end the quarter ahead 3-2.
 
SECOND QUARTER
The Tigers came out strong to begin the quarter, finding the back of the net five times before McKendree would respond. Freshman attacker Joseph Mahan (Corinth, TX/John H Guyer High School) would be the one to break the Bearcats silence, with a blistering shot inside the final 30 seconds of the half. The Bearcats would close out the half down 7-4 to the Tigers.
 
THIRD QUARTER
Salem would again come out strong, with three goals extending their lead to six. With 5:24 left in the third quarter Mahan would notch his second goal of the game to cut the lead down to five. Two more goals from Gregory would cut the lead down even more, making it 10-7 in favor of the Tigers. However, Salem would score three more times to close out the quarter, up 13-7.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
The Tigers opened the quarter with a goal just 14 seconds in, but the Bearcats were quick to respond with one of their own only 40 seconds later. Salem wasn't done yet, scoring again to make the score 15-8, but a goal from Nicholas would inch the Bearcats closer. Two more goals from the Tigers, would close out their scoring, but McKendree wasn't done yet. The Bearcats would find the back of the net three more times with goals coming from Tyler Gustafson (Schaumberg, IL/Schaumberg High School), Luc Gregory (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach High School), and Alex Nicholas (Rolling Meadows, IL/Fremd High School). McKendree would fall short however, losing to the Tigers by a score of 17-12.
 
The second game of the night for McKendree would come against the Monmouth College Fighting Scots, in which McKendree would earn their first win of the weekend.
 
FIRST QUARTER
Monmouth would score first around 35 seconds into the game, but Nicholas would add one and Mahan would add two goals to round out the first quarter with McKendree up 3-1.
 
SECOND QUARTER
Monmouth would again open the scoring to start the quarter, with their goal coming up a man on a McKendree exclusion foul. In response, Michael Krause (St. Louis, MO/Saint Louis University High School) would find the back of the net for his first goal of the day. Nicholas would score again on a five-meter penalty shot drawn by Gregory. The Bearcats would close out the half up 5-2.
 
THIRD QUARTER
The third quarter was all McKendree, with three goals coming from three different players. Freshman center Robert Esson (Huntington Beach, CA/Huntington Beach High School), would find his first goal of the day, along with goals from Gregory and Mahan. At the close of the third quarter, McKendree had a commanding 8-2 lead.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
Opening up the fourth quarter, Krause would find the back of the net two more times to extend McKendree's lead to eight. Monmouth would score their first of the quarter on a five-meter penalty shot, to make the score 10-3 in McKendree's favor. Terrence Woods (West Orange, FL/West Orange High School) would round out the scoring for the Bearcats with his first goal of the day, with four minutes left to play. The Fighting Scots would add two more before the game's end, but that wouldn't be enough to beat the Bearcats. McKendree came out on top with a final score of 11-5.
 
The Bearcats received stellar performances from several players including Mahan, who notched seven goals and two assists on the day, as well as Gregory, who registered six goals and two assists, and both Nicholas and Krause added three goals of their own. On the other side of the ball, Arthur Larson (St. Louis, MO/Saint Louis University High School) and Marko Vucetic (Belgrade, Serbia/Redstar Academy) stopped a combined 39 shots for the Bearcats.
 
This Saturday and Sunday, the Bearcats resume division play with Saturday's games coming against Washington University – St. Louis at 3:05 p.m. and Lindenwood University 'B' at 5:50. Sunday, McKendree opens the day up with a game against Truman State University at 10:25 a.m., followed by a matchup against Lindenwood University 'A' starting at 3:30 p.m. All games will be played at Saint Louis University's Simon Recreation Center.