BRONX, N.Y. – McKendree University men's water polo fell into the consolation round of the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships following its 15-6 setback to 18th-ranked and No. 1 seeded Fordham University in a quarterfinal game at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center on the Fordham campus.
 
With the setback, McKendree falls into a consolation match on Saturday, Nov. 19 with a 2:20 p.m. match-up against fourth-seeded Wagner. The winner will play for fifth place on Sunday, while the loser will play in the seventh-place game on Sunday.
 
McKendree falls to 7-18 with the loss, while Fordham improved to 24-7 on the season and will meet fifth-seeded Salem in Saturday's semifinal round. Salem upset Wagner, 17-13 on Friday.
 
Friday's game was the second this season between the two schools as Fordham earned a 25-3 win over the Bearcats at the Morgantown Conference Crossover Weekend on Oct. 8.
 
In Friday's rematch, Fordham scored just 16 times against the Bearcats and McKendree's offense was able to score six goals against the Rams.
 
Fordham jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the first period and led 11-4 after two periods of action. The Rams extended their lead to 14-4 after three periods, before McKendree outscored Fordham, 2-1 in the final period to cap the scoring.
 
Against the Rams, six different Bearcats scored a goal and two Bearcats collected assists in the loss.
 
Trailing 1-0 just 45 seconds into the game, the Bearcats used a goal from fifth-senior attacker Nico Rodriquez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) to tie the game at 1-all. That would be as close as McKendree got as Fordham scored six of the next seven goals to take a 7-2 lead after the first eight minutes of the game. In the opening period, the other McKendree goal was scored by junior center defender Adam Serrano (Riverside, Calif./Poly).
 
In the second period, the Bearcats got goals from graduate student attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and fifth-year senior Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) as they trailed 11-4 at the half.
 
After being held scoreless in the third period, junior center/utility player Breno Trebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) and freshman center/utilty player Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) scored goals around an extra-man goal by Fordham's Mark Matsev to cap the scoring.
 
Fordham got three goals each from Nir Gross, Christos Loupakis and Lucas Nieto Jasny.
 
Junior goalkeeper Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) allowed 16 goals and had 13 saves and he added two steals in the loss.