(ERIE, Penn., Nov. 3) – The McKendree University men's water polo defeated Washington and Jefferson 18-8 on Saturday morning to move on to a meeting with undefeated Gannon University in the afternoon. The Golden Knights would suffer their first loss at the hands of the Bearcats by the score of 12-9.
 
Game One
The Bearcats swarmed the Presidents early by jumping out to a 7-0 lead. Freshman Ben Brauer (Duisburg, Germany/Steinbart-Gymnasium Duisburg) kicked off the scoring for McKendree. Adding to the lead was junior Michael Krause (St. Louis, MO/Saint Louis University High School), freshman Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills High School) and freshman Matthew Haygood (Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills High School). Brauer got his second of the game to give the Bearcats a 5-0 lead. Junior Izaya Owotor (Portland, OR/David Douglas High School) closed on the first period scoring when he netted his first of the game.
 
Freshman Brad Nelms (Lake Forest, CA/El Toro High School) further extended the lead with the first goal of the second period. Giving the Bearcats a seven goal lead was junior Joseph Mahan (Corinth, TX/John H Guyer High School) with his first of the game. Haygood gained his second of the game after burying the ball past the President goalie. Freshman Aaron Jacobs (Houston, TX/Jersey Village High School) gave McKendree a 10-3 lead at halftime with his first of the game.
 
Haygood netted three consecutive goals to put his total at five on the day. Sophomore Abraham Allen (Webster Groves, MO/Webster Groves High School) jumped on the scoresheet with his first midway through the period.  Junior Robert Esson (Huntington Beach, CA/Huntington Beach High School) gave McKendree a 10 goal lead with goal just a minute later.
 
Freshmen Jackson Spencer (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West), Peter Germuska (Encinitas, CA/La Cost Canyon High School), and Adrian Maher (Keller, TX/Keller High School) closed out the scoring for the game with their firsts. McKendree would complete the victory by the score of 18-8.
 
Game Two
The Golden Knights got on the board first but the Bearcats stormed back with three goals of their own. Freshman Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills High School), Jacobs, and Brauer led the charge for McKendree. Gannon would tie the game at three in the second period. Haygood give the Bearcats back the lead and Brauer would extend it with a five-meter penalty shot.
 
Once again, Gannon would come back to tie the match at five apiece. The Bearcats would fight back for the lead with goals from Allen and Mahan with under a minute to go in the half as they would lead 7-5 after 16 minutes.
 
McKendree carried that late momentum over into the second half with two early goals by Haygood and Spencer. Mahan widened the lead with a goal at the three minute mark of the third period. The Bearcat defense stepped up by only allowing a single goal to the Golden Knights.
 
Freshman Nico Rodriguez (Winter Park, FL/Oviedo High School) netted his first goal of the day and Mahan contributed another to put away the Golden Knights for good as McKendree would give them their first loss of the season with a 12-9 victory.
 
Sophomore Ori Scanlon (Orlando, FL/Olympia High School) made 15 saves and added four steals in the win over Gannon.
 
"I am immensely proud of these guys for their work in today's games. We spent all week prepping to take on Gannon and these guys did not disappoint. Not only did we beat them for the first time our program's history, we broke the 19 game winning streak of the only undefeated team in the country," said McKendree head coach Colleen Lischwe. "This win is the result of every single athlete playing their role and impacting the game in a positive way. I couldn't be more happy to coach this team."
 
With the win against Gannon, McKendree advanced to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) West Region championship game against Salem University at 1:30p.m. ET on Sunday.