HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The McKendree University club men's water polo team recorded a program best sixth place finish at this weekend's 2021 National Collegiate Club Championships hosted by the University of Alabama and the Huntsville Sports Commission at the Huntsville Aquatics Center. 

At this weekend's National Collegiate Club Championships, the 16th-ranked Bearcats, who were the top-seeded team in the tournament, which was based on the first place finish from 2019 when Lindenwood represented the Missouri Valley Division at the national championships, posted a 2-2 record at the event where they fell 15-8 in the fifth-place game to 12th-ranked University of Southern California. 

McKendree (4-2 overall record) opened the tournament with a 13-7 win over the host school, Alabama, before falling 16-4 in the quarterfinal round against third-ranked University of California. The loss to Cal dropped the Bearcats into a consolation game with sixth-ranked Colorado and McKendree picked up a 12-10 win in overtime against the Buffaloes to advance to the fifth place game against USC. 

Prior to this year's sixth place finish, the highest finish ever at the National Collegiate Club Championships was an eighth place finish at the 2016 championships hosted by the University of Notre Dame. 

At the national championships, freshman attacker T.J. Joubert (Johannesburg, South Africa/Hilton College) paced the way offensively for the Bearcats with 11 goals, while junior utility player Connor Pulido (Chicago Ridge, Ill./Richards) added eight goals and junior attacker Jacob Castillo (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara City College) had seven goals. In addition, two other Bearcats scored multiple goals on the weekend as sophomore CJ Brushwood (Gresham, Ore./Sam Barlow) added six goals and freshman Eli Grande (San Bernardino, Calif./Cajon) had two goals. 

Joubert had two games with five goals as he tallied five goals in the first game of the tournament against Alabama and then had five goals against Colorado. In addition to Joubert, Pulido added four goals against Alabama and Castillo had four goals against USC. 

GAME 1 - #16 McKENDREE 13, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA 7
The top-seeded Bearcats, who were the 2021 Missouri Valley Division champions, opened the National Collegiate Club Championships with a 13-7 victory over the host school, the University of Alabama. 

Against th Crimson Tide, Joubert and Pulido combined for nine of the Bearcats 13 goals, including Joubert tallying a hat-trick in the first half as McKendree led 7-2 at the half. 

Alabama got the scoring started with a goal at the 6:34 mark of the first period, before Brushwood and Joubert added back-to-back goals to give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead with 4:12 left in the first period. Alabama's Nick Ward would tie the game at 2 following his goal with 2:57 left in the period, before Pulido scored with 39 seconds left to give the Bearcats a 3-2 lead. 

The Bearcats pulled away by scoring four straight goals in the second period, including two even-strength goals by Joubert and an even-strength goal by Castillo and a man-up goal by Pulido with 2:40 left in the quarter to give the Bearcats a 7-2 halftime lead. 

Brushwood and Pulido scored the first two goals of the third period to push the Bearcats lead to 9-2 just four-plus minutes into the quarter. Alabama would score three of the next four goals to drop McKendree's lead to 10-5 after three periods. 

Alabama would score a goal just 38 seconds into the fourth quarter to push within 10-6, but Joubert added two more goals and freshman attacker Ethan Hansen (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) added a goal to establish the final score of 13-7. 

Along with Joubert and Pulido's combined nine goals, Brushwood added two goals, while Castillo and Hansen each had a goal in the win. Brian Kent paced Alabama with three goals, while Nick Ward added two goals. 

Freshman goalkeeper Sterling Burleigh (South Salt Lake City, Utah/Olympus) recorded five saves in goal in the game. 

GAME 2 (QUARTERFINALS) - #3 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 16, #16 McKENDREE 4
The No. 3 ranked University of California Golden Bears jumped out to a 10-3 lead at the half and held the Bearcats to just one goal in the second half to post the 16-4 quarterfinal win and advance to the semifinal round. McKendree fell into the consolation side of the tournament.

After watching Cal scored five times in the first period, Pulido would get the Bearcats onto the scoreboard just 17 seconds into the second period and then Joubert added a goal with 4:46 left in the second period to push within 5-2. Cal, though, would respond by scoring five consecutive goals to push its lead to 10-2 with 2:30 left in the period. Brushwood would stop the Bears run with a goal with 36 seconds left in the period to cut Cal's lead to 10-3 at the half. 

Grande would score the only goal in the second half for the Bearcats and that goal came at the 5:38 mark of the fourth quarter. 

The goals scored by the Bearcats in the game came from Brushwood, Grande, Pulido and freshman utility player Ethan Gray (St. Louis, Mo./Pattonville). Alex Lee paced Cal with six goals, while Daniel Ardjmand and Kai Mohl each had two goals in the win. 

GAME 3 (CONSOLATION ROUND) - #16 McKENDREE 12, #6 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 10
Two overtime goals by Brushwood made the difference for the Bearcats in its 12-10 overtime win over the University of Colorado in a consolation round game and advance to the fifth-place game. Colorado fell into the seventh place game with the loss. 

In the game, neither team led by more than two goals until McKendree pushed out to a 12-9 lead with 31 seconds left in the second three-minute overtime period. The two teams were tied at two-all after the first period, before McKendree outscored the Buffaloes, 5-3 in the second quarter to take a 7-5 lead at the half. 

Colorado would outscore the Bearcats, 3-1 in the third quarter to tie the game at 8-all at the end of the third period. Both teams would score a goal in the fourth period to force overtime. In the first overtime period, freshman attacker Luke Schmidt (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) scored the lone goal with 1:16 left in the first overtime period to give McKendree a 10-9 lead. 

Brushwood would score goals at 2:33 and 31 seconds left in the second overtime period to take a 12-9 lead, before Jackson Williams added a goal for the Buffaloes with three seconds left to cap the scoring. 

Joubert added five goals, while Pulido, Castillo and Brushwood each had two goals in the win. Benjamin Budic and Reid Schiodager each tallied three goals for Colorado, whiole Sebastian Vargas added two goals in the loss.

GAME 4 (FIFTH-PLACE GAME) - #12 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 15, #16 McKENDREE 8
In the fifth place game of the tournament, USC jumped in front 9-2 in the first half and never looked back as they recorded a 15-8 win to post a fifth place finish. The loss gave the Bearcats a program-best sixth place finish in the national championships. 

Castillo got the Bearcats on the board with 2:43 left in the first quarter to drop USC's lead to 3-1, before the Trojans closed the period by scoring two more goals to lead 5-1 after the opening eight minutes. The Trojans would score four straight goals in the second period to take a 9-1 lead, before Castillo added his second goal of the game with 1:30 left in the period to cut the Trojans halftime lead to 9-2. 

The Bearcats attempted to make a comeback in the third period as they scored five goals to pull within 11-7. In the period, Grande got the scoring started with 6:29 left in the period and then Castillo, Joubert and Brushwood combined for a four-goal run to pull the Bearcats within 10-7. 

In the fourth period, USC would outscore the Bearcats, 4-1 with the lone McKendree goal coming from Pulido. 

Castillo paced the Bearcats with four goals, while Brushwood, Grande, Pulido and Joubert each had a goal in the loss. Peyton Alonzo and Tim Greer each added three goals, while Declan Cooper and Mitchell Fargo had two goals to pace the Trojans.