LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The McKendree men's water polo team completed play here Saturday in the Gary Troyer Invitational by suffering back-to-back setbacks to Cal Lutheran and Ottawa (Ariz.) University at the De Mandel Aquatics Center on the campus of Occidental College.
 
McKendree opened the final day of the two-day event by suffering a 13-7 loss to Cal Lutheran, before falling 15-11 in its final game to Ottawa (Ariz.). The Bearcats completed the event with an 0-4 record as they were outscored 65-39.
 
With the two setbacks, McKendree's record falls to 2-11 overall on the season.
 
CAL LUTHERAN 13, McKENDREE 7
In Saturday's opener against the Kingsmen, the Bearcats got two goals each from graduate student attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West), fifth-year senior attacker Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) and junior center/utility player Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) in suffering a 13-7 loss to Cal Lutheran.
 
Rodriguez and sophomore attacker Jespyn Bishop (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) each had two assists.
 
Carlson gave the Bearcats an early 1-0 lead just 86 seconds into the game, but that lead was shortlived as CLU scored five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead after the opening period.
 
Rodriguez and Tebet scored goals in the second period for the Bearcats to pull within 7-3 at the half.
 
The Kingsmen scored six of the game's eight goals in the third period to take a 13-5 lead into the final period. In the period, McK's goals came from Carlson and freshman center/utility player Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central).
 
McKendree would use goals from Rodriguez and Tebet in the fourth period to cap the scoring.
 
McK held a 12-6 edge in exclusions as Koester and Rodriguez each had three in the game. Carlson also added three steals, while freshman attacker James Ramey (St. Louis, Mo./Ladue Horton Watkins) added two steals in the loss.
 
Dillon Goldsmith paced CLU with four goals, while Ben Brown had three goals and two assists. Justin Boals and Brown each had three steals for the Kingsmen.
 
Junior Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) played all 32 minutes in goal for the Bearcats and finished with 11 saves and one steal.
 
Bo DuBois played goal for CLU and he had seven saves, two assists and one steal.
 
OTTAWA (AZ) 15, McKENDREE 11
In Saturday's second game against Ottawa (Ariz.) University, the Bearcats trailed 12-6 heading into the fourth period, but they rallied to score five goals in the final period to cut the margin to four at the end.
 
Carlson had a big game for the Bearcats as he scored five goals and added two exclusions, while junior Adam Serrano (Riverside, Calif./Poly) added two goals and Rodriguez scored one goal and added two assists and had two exclusions.
 
Both teams scored two goals in the opening period, but the Spirit would use a six goal second period to take an 8-4 lead at the half. In the second period, Carlson scored both of McKendree's goals.
 
In the third period, Carlson scored his fourth goal of game in the opening two-plus minutes to cut Ottawa's lead to 8-6. But the Spirit would respond by scoring four straight goals to take a 12-6 lead heading into the final period.
 
Freshman utility player Xander McWhorter (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Woods), Koester and Serrano scored McK's first three goals of the fourth period to pull within 14-9. But Ottawa would push its lead to 15-9 on a goal by Giulio Viviani with 1:33 left in the period, before McK capped the scoring with goals from Bishop and Serrano.
 
Ottawa held a 34-28 edge in shots, while McK held a 13-10 advantage in exclusions.
 
Freshman attacker Justice Lamboy (Santee, Calif./West Hills) had three of McK's 13 exclusions.
 
Cronin played three periods in goal and finished with 10 saves and one steal, while fifth-year senior Bryce Tully (Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa) played the final period in goal and had one save and one steal in his home state.
 
Ottawa got five goals and three assists from Johnathan Wong, while Matty Roebuck and Roland Mantecon each had three goals for the Spirit.
 
Zackery Whiddon played all 32 minutes in goal for Ottawa and had nine saves and allowed 11 goals.
 
The Bearcats will look to put brakes on an eight-game losing skid next weekend (Oct. 8-9) and they return to Mid Atlantic Water Polo Conference play by playing three games at the Morgantown Conference Crossover Weekend in Morgantown, W.Va. On the weekend, the Bearcats will face Fordham and Wagner on Oct. 8 at 12 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. Eastern, before facing Navy on Oct. 9 at 11:40 a.m. Eastern.