ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – McKendeee University men's water polo concluded the 2022 regular season here Saturday as the Bearcats suffered a hard-fought 17-16 setback to Augustana College at Anne Greve Lund Natatorium.
With the loss, McKendree falls to 6-17 overall, while Augustana improved to 12-5 on the season.
In Saturday's regular season finale, five Bearcats scored two goals in the loss. The two goal scorers for the Bearcats were graduate student attacker
Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West), fifth-year senior attacker
Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills), freshman attacker
Zach Callejas (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit Prep), fifth-year senior attacker
Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) and sophomore center defender
Alex Napawan (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central).
Junior center
Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) got things started with a goal just 64 seconds into the game to give McKendree an early 1-0 lead. But, Augie would storm back with five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead with 52 seconds left in the opening period. Each team would trade goals in the final 11 seconds of the first period to give Augie a 6-2 lead.
The Vikings would outscore the Bearcats, 5-4 in the second period to lead 11-6 at the half. Sunagawa, Napawan and sophomore attacker
Schuyler Cramer (Thornton, Colo./Horizon) each goals in the second period for the Bearcats.
In the third period, the teams combined for 11 goals as McKendree opened the period with three straight goals from Tebet, Rodriguez and Carlson to pull within 11-9 just two minutes into the period.
Augie, though, would respond with a 3-0 run of their own to push its lead to 14-9 with 2:03 left in the third period. McKendree would score three of the next four goals, before Augie's Zion Thomas gave the Vikings a 16-12 lead after three periods following his goal with three seconds left.
The Vikings lead grew to 17-12 just 59 seconds into the final period, before the Bearcats scored the final four goals to pull within one following a goal by Callejas with 37 seconds left. With four seconds left, the Bearcats had the ball looking a game tying goal, but McKendree turned the ball over to seal Augie's victory.
Carlson finished with seven points in the game with five assists to go with his two goals Callejas also had two assists. Junior goalie
Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) added three assists.
The Bearcats also held a 43-32 edge on shots in the game.
Defensively, Callejas had four steals, while Cronin, Sunagawa and freshman center
Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) each had two steals for the Bearcats.
Augie got three goals from Mark Addison, while JP Sutton, Oskar Bannister, Will Riebel, Zion Thomas and Steven Rasic each had two goals for the Vikings.
Bannister had four assists, while Sutton and Tyler Leslie each had two assists. Declan Hutton and Addison combined for five steals for the Vikings.
Cronin played all 32 minutes in goal for the Bearcats and along with allowing 17 goals, he recorded eight saves.
Hutton played all 32 minutes in the cage for the Vikings and along with allowing 16 goals, he recorded 12 saves.
The Bearcats will now turn its attention to the postseason as they compete next weekend (Nov. 18-20) at the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships. The Bearcats will open the championships with an 11 a.m. Eastern game against Gannon (Pa.) University hosted by Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y.
