IRVINE, Calif. – The McKendee University men's water polo team used a balanced offensive attack here Thursday to post a 13-10 exhibition win over Westcliff University in the first game of its trip to Southern California at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.
Seven different Bearcats scored a goal, including graduate student Uros Pelemis (Belgrade, Serbia/Fresno Pacific) scoring four times and senior Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo), senior Tristen Clue (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) and senior Matthew Haygood (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) each scored two goals in the win.
The Bearcats offense was efficient in Thursday's win as they took 26 shots and scored 13 goals for a shooting percentage of 50 percent. Westcliff finished the game with a 42 percent shooting percentage as they took 24 shots and scored 10 goals.
Pelemis and senior Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) scored the first two goals of the game for the Bearcats as they led 2-0 just three-plus minutes into the game. WU, though, would score twice in a span 32 seconds later in the first period to tie the game at 2-all.
The Bearcats added two more goals in the second period, both of which were scored by Pelemis, to take a 4-2 lead at the half.
Back-to-back goals by Rodriguez to open the third period gave the Bearcats a 6-2 lead, but WC would come back and scored two straight goals to drop McKendree's lead to 6-4. Sophomore Adam Serrano (Riverside, Calif./Poly) and Clue would close the third period with goals to give the Bearcats an 8-4 lead heading into the final period.
McKendree opened the fourth period by scoring four of the first five goals, including back-to-back goals in a span of two minutes from Haygood, to push its lead to 12-5. The Warriors, though, would crawl back as they scored five of the final six goals, including tallying four of them in the final two minutes of the game.
Fifth-year senior Ori Scanlon (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) played all 32 minutes in goal and recorded six saves and allowed 10 goals, while Roberto Barrera played the entire game in net for the Warriors and allowed 13 goals and recorded six saves.
Luca Silvestri scored six of Westcliff's 10 goals, including four of his team's six fourth period goals. In addition to Silvestri, Djordje Mitrovic added two goals and Casey Hammond and Vincenzo Inguanta each recorded two assists in the game.
The Bearcats continued its six game road trip to Southern California on Friday, Oct. 1 as they begin play in the Gary Troyer Invitational. They open the two-day event with 2:45 p.m. CT game against Biola University in La Verne, Calif., and then will conclude the first day of action with a 7:45 p.m. CT game in Claremont, Calif., against Concordia (Calif.) University.
