CLAREMONT, Calif. – The McKendree University men's water polo team went 1-1 here on the first day of the 2021 Gary Troyer Invitational as the Bearcats opened the event with a 10-8 win over Biola University and then suffered a 15-11 loss to Concordia (Calif.) University.

With the spilt on Friday, the Bearcats fell to 4-4 overall on the season and will complete play in the Gary Troyer Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 2 with games at 11 a.m. CT against Fresno Pacific and 4 p.m. CT against Santa Clara University. The game with Fresno Pacific will be held in Claremont, while the Santa Clara game will be held in La Verne.

McKENDREE 10, BIOLA 8
In its opening game of the Gary Troyer Invitational at the Las Flores Pool in La Verne, Calif., McKendree used two goals apiece from senior Matthew Haygood (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills), graduate student Uros Pelemis (Belgrade, Serbia/Fresno Pacific) and senior Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) in picking up the 10-8 victory. In addition to the two goals from Haygood, Pelemis and Rodriguez, four other Bearcats added one goal each and graduate student Michael Rojas (Cali, Colombia/San Joaquin Parroquial) had four of McKendree's five assists.

For the game, both teams recorded 32 shots, but the Bearcats were strong on the power play as they went 4-for-8, while Biola went 0-for-2 on the power play.

McKendree jumped in front 4-0, before the Eagles scored the final two goals of the second period to give the Bearcats a 4-2 lead at the half.

In the third period, the Bearcats outscored Biola, 3-1 to take a 7-3 lead heading into the final eight minutes of the game.

Biola made things interesting in the fourth period as after Haygood scored his second goal just 16 seconds into the period, the Eagles would score three of the next four goals to drop McKendree's lead to 9-6. Rojas gave the Bearcats a 10-6 lead with 2:48 left in the game, but that goal seemed to ignite the Eagles as 20 seconds later Kenny Wulf scored a goal to pull Biola within 10-7 and then capped the scoring with another goal by Wulf with nine seconds remaining.

Fifth-year senior Ori Scanlon (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) played a little over 26 minutes in goal and recorded five saves to go with allowing five goals, while sophomore Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) played 5:53 in goal and allowed three goals and made two saves.

Wulf scored five of Biola's eight goals in the loss, while Maxwell Osborn had three assists.

Mitchell Carpenter played the whole game in the goal and he allowed 10 goals and made 12 saves.
  
CONCORDIA (CA) 15, McKENDREE 11
In its second game of the day on Friday, the Bearcats were outshot 35-28, but were outscored, 7-4 in the second half to help Concordia (Calif.) post a 15-11 win at the Haldeman Pool on the campus of Pomona-Pitzer University.

Against the Eagles, Pelemis scored five of McKendree's 11 goals, including three of his five goals coming in the first half as the Bearcats trailed 8-7 at the half. In addition to Pelemis' five goals, Haygood and Rojas each added two goals in the loss.

Pelemis scored the first goal of the game, but the Eagles would then score four straight goals to push in front 4-1 with 2:53 left in the opening period. The Bearcats would score two of the final three goals of the opening period to cut CUI's lead to 5-3.

In the second period, the Bearcats outscored CUI, 4-3, including Pelemis scoring two goals and Haygood adding a goal over the final five-plus minutes to cut pull McKendree within a goal at 8-7 at the half.

CUI scored four goals in the third period to hold a 12-7 lead heading into the fourth period. In the fourth period, McKendree scored three of the first four goals of the period to pull within 13-10, but back-to-back goals by Jeff Runyan pushed the Eagles' lead to 15-10. Pelemis would cap the scoring on a goal with 10 seconds left in the game.

Scanlon played all 32 minutes in goal and allowed 15 goals and made 11 saves, while Hunter Osgood played all 32 minutes in goal and allowed 11 goals and made seven saves.

Runyan paced CUI with a game-high seven goals, while Jacob Stuart and Callin Chimilar had three and two goals apiece in the win.