BRONX, N.Y. – The McKendree University men's water polo team appeared on the verge of advancing to Sunday's fifth place game of the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships here Saturday afternoon as they led fourth-seeded Wagner College by one goal late in the game, before the Seahawks tied the game on a goal with six seconds left in regulation and then sealed its 15-14 come-from-behind victory with a goal with 1:40 left in double overtime at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center on the Fordham University campus.
 
With the loss, eighth-seeded McKendree, who falls to 7-19 on the season, will play in Sunday's seventh place game against 10th-seeded Johns Hopkins at 10:30 a.m. ET, while Wagner will meet sixth-seeded U.S. Naval Academy in Sunday's fifth game scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.
 
Heading into the fourth period of Saturday's game against Wagner, the Bearcats led 12-10 after outscoring the Seahawks, 4-3, in the third period to extend its 8-7 halftime lead to a two-goal advantage.
 
In the fourth period, Wagner pulled within one at 12-11 following a goal by Luis Camino Sosa just 42 seconds into the period.
 
The Bearcats, though, pushed its lead back to two goals at 13-11 following a goal at the seven minute mark by junior center/utility player Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College). Wagner would then use a goal by Kristian Stanczewski to pull within 13-12 with 4:01 left in the period.
 
McKendree would push its lead to 14-12 following a goal by Tebet with 2:23 left in the game.
 
Wagner, though, wouldn't go away as Oliver Fodor brought the Seahawks within 14-13 following his goal with 1:38 left, before Zsombor Gyemant tied the game on his goal with six seconds left in the game. Gyemant's game tying goal come just 18 seconds after McKendree had turned the ball over.
 
After neither team scored in the first overtime period, Wagner (17-13) was able to finally find the net with 1:40 left in double overtime on a goal by Shaked Yacoby. The Bearcats had the ball in the overtime session looking for a tying goal, but McKendree turned the ball over with 23 seconds left to seal Wagner's win.
 
Wagner jumped out to 6-5 lead after the opening period, after trailing 3-1 just three minutes into game. In the second period, McKendree got two goals from Tebet and a single goal from  fifth-year senior attacker Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) to take an 8-7 lead at the half.
 
In the third period, Wagner scored two of the first three goals to tie the game at 9-all. Following Wagner's run, Rodriguez and Tebet each scored goals for the Bearcats to take an 11-9 lead. Fodor would score with 44 seconds left to pull Wagner within a goal at 11-10, but fifth-year senior attacker Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) scored with two seconds left to give McKendree a 12-10 lead.
 
Tebet led the way offensively for McKendree with six goals, while Rodriguez added four goals. Graduate student attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and Sunagawa each scored two goals in the game.
 
Fodor led Wagner with five goals, while Sosa, Yacoby and Laszlo Strasser each had two goals for the Seahawks.
 
Junior goalie Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) finished with eight saves, while Wagner goalie Matthew Sherry had six saves.