O'FALLON, Ill. – McKendree University men's water polo concluded its 2022 home schedule here Sunday morning by posting an impressive 23-14 win over Salem University in the final game of McKendree's weekend Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference games on Senior Day at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex Pool.
 
With the win, McKendree improves 6-16 overall and 3-7 in the league as they went 3-0 on the weekend. Salem, who was 2-0 on the weekend entering Sunday's game, falls 14-12 overall and 5-5 in the league.
 
Prior to Sunday's game, the Bearcats honored their four departing seniors in a pregame ceremony. The fourth seniors this season are center Tristen Clue (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills), center defender Connor Pulido (Chicago Ridge, Ill./Richard), attacker Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) and attacker Tony Sunagawa (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills).
 
The four seniors combined to score 11 of McKendree's 23 goals in the game as Sunagaw and junior center/utility player Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) led the way with four goals each, while Rodriguez added three goals and four Bearcats had two goals each in the win.  
 
Salem jumped out to a 4-2 lead after the opening period, but the Bearcats rallied in the second period as they 10 goals to take a 12-8 halftime lead.
 
In the second period. McKendree trailed 7-5 just three minutes into the period, before the Bearcats reeled off six straight goals to take an 11-7 lead, including freshman center/utility player Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) capping the six goal flurry with two straight goals.
 
The Tigers would pull within 11-8 following a goal by Marko Zivojinovic with one second left, but McKendree would score on a penalty goal by Sunagawa with no time on the clock to give the Bearcats a 12-8 halftime lead.
 
McKendree would extend its lead to 19-9 after three periods after the Bearcats scored seven goals in the period, including two from Rodriguez.
 
Salem would scored five of the nine goals in the fourth period to cut McKendree's final lead to nine goals. In the fourth period, Clue scored two goals, while Pulido and freshman attacker Kris Eylofson (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Sanford Collegiate) scored fourth period goals for the Bearcats.
 
Sunagawa led the Bearcats with three assists, while graduate student attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and freshman attacker Zach Callejas (Miami, Fla./Belan Jesuit Prep) each had two assists. For the game, McKendree had 15 assists in the win.
 
Defensively, the Bearcats had seven steals, including three steals from Sunagawa. In addition to Sunagawa, Rodriguez, freshman attacker Justice Lamboy (Santee, Calif./West Hills) and freshman Quinten Gallagher (St. Louis, Mo./CBC) each had a steal.
 
Junior goalkeeper Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) had another solid effort in net for the Bearcats as he recorded 12 saves, had a steal and allowed just 14 goals to the high scoring Tigers, who averaged 21 goals in each of their wins on Saturday.

Salem was paced by seven goals from Zivojinovic, while Ivan Zivojinovic added three goals in the loss. 
 
The Bearcats return to action next Saturday, Nov. 12 with a 1 p.m. game in Rock Island, Ill., against Augustana (Ill.) College. McKendree opened this season with a 12-7 win over the Vikings.

Here are the complete results from this weekend's water polo action at the Rec Plex Pool.
 
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022
Game 1 – 1:30 p.m. - McKendree 14, Gannon 10
Game 2 – 3 p.m. – Salem 24, Mercyhurst 13
Game 3 – 6 p.m. - McKendree 19, Mercyhurst 11
Game 4 - 7:30 p.m. - Salem 18, Gannon 16
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022
Game 5 – 9 a.m. – Gannon 8, Mercyhurst 2
Game 6 – 10:30 a.m. – McKendree 23, Salem 14

Overall Records on Weekend -
McKendree – 3-0
Salem - 2-1
Gannon – 1-2
Mercyhurst - 0-3