ERIE, Pa. – The McKendree men's water polo team concluded play here Sunday in the 2022 CWPA Division II Championships by posting a 13-6 win over Mercyhurst University at Cathedral Prep's Hallman Aquatics Center.
 
With the win, McKendree snaps a 13 game losing skid and improves to 3-16 on the season, while Mercyhurst falls to 2-17 on the year.
 
In Sunday's win, McKendree outshot the Lakers, 42-28 and held an 8-7 edge in steals.
 
Leading the way for the Bearcats offense was freshman Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central), who tallied four goals on 12 shots in the win. In addition to Koester, junior Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) added three goals and a assist for four points, while graduate student attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) tallied two goals for the Bearcats.
 
Mercyhurst got the scoring started as Joe Reinsma scored the first goal nearly two minutes into the contest. But the Bearcats would get goal from Tebet with 42 second left in the opening period to tie the game at 1-all.
 
The Bearcats would outscore Mercyhurst, 5-1, in the second period to hold a 6-2 lead at the half. In fact, the Bearcats scored the first four goals of the period and Koester would score a second goal in the period with 50 seconds remaining to give the Bearcats their four goal halftime advantage.
 
Koester, Carlson and Tebet opened the third period with goals to give the Bearcats a 9-2 lead. Danilo Vujovic would put the Lakers on the board on his goal with 3:16 left in the period, but Tebet would connect for his third goal of the game about 24 seconds later to give McKendree a 10-3 lead after three periods.
 
The Lakers scored the first goal of the fourth period to cut McK's lead to 10-4, but goals from freshman Dylan Veccio (Miami, Fla./Belan Jesuit Prep) and Koester pushed the Bearcats lead to 12-5 with about five-plus minutes left in the final period.
 
Vujovic for Mercyhurst and freshman attacker Quinten Gallagher (St. Louis, Mo./CBC) for McKendree capped the scoring with goals at 5:38 and the 4:11 marks.
 
Carlson, Koester, Gallagher and freshman Zach Callejas (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit Prep) each had two assists for the Bearcats, while four other Bearcats had one assist as McKendree finished with 12 for the game.
 
Fifth-year senior Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) paced the McKendree defense with three steals, while sophomore Schuyler Cramer added two in the win.
 
Junior Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) played all 32 minutes in goal for the Bearcats and along with allowing just six goals, he also collected 15 saves and had a steal in the win. The six goals were a season low allowed by Cronin.

The Bearcats will now take a week off before returning to action on Nov. 5-6 as they the an MAWPC Conference Crossover Weekend at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex Pool in O'Fallon, Ill. The Bearcats will open the weekend on  Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2:30 p.m. against Gannon, before facing Mercyhurst on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. and then meeting Salem on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m.