(PROVIDENCE, RI., Sept. 7) – The McKendree University men's water polo team began its 2019 campaign with an 18-16 loss to No. 20 Brown University and a dropped an 18-7 decision to St. Francis College Brooklyn later Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bearcats close the first day of the season at 0-2. McKendree jumps right back in the water on Sunday at 8:15a.m. ET against Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 3:15p.m. at Harvard University.
 
To begin the Bruno Classic, McKendree battled the No. 20 overall team in Brown University, narrowly falling to the Division-I Bears.
 
Leading the way offensively were senior Joseph Mahan (Corinth, TX/John H Guyer High School) were buried four goals and sophomore Matthew Haygood (Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills High School) who notched three goals himself. Making his debut, junior Andrew Serrano (Riverside, CA/Martin Luther King High School) scored his first two goals as a Bearcat. Seven other Bearcats saw themselves in the scoring column.
 
Haygood was also the main culprit in setting up the offense, dishing out three assists. Junior Ben Brauer (Duisburg, Germany/Steinbart-Gymnasium Duisburg) tied Haygood with three assists in the game.
 
In the cage, Ori Scanlon (Orlando, FL/Olympia High School) recorded two takeaways and turned away numerous shots from the tournament host to keep the game within reach.
 
"I am very impressed with the team for beginning the year with a very solid game against No. 20 Brown," said head coach Colleen Lischwe. "We came out with fire, forced our opponent to play every second of the game, and proved to ourselves that we are a talented team."
 
In the evening game, the Bearcats dropped their second game of the day, 18-7 to SFC Brooklyn.
 
"Our second game on the day was a disappointment but nothing we can't bounce back from," said Lischwe. "We have clear areas for improvement and we look forward to addressing those issues and coming back stronger each game."