LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree men's water polo team returns to action this coming weekend as they play four games over two days at the Bucknell Invitational at Kinney Natatorium on the campus of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.
The Bearcats (1-0) opens the two-event Bucknell Invitational with games on Saturday, Sept. 17 against Mount St. Mary's and Wagner College at 3:20 p.m. ET and 7:20 p.m. ET, before concluding the weekend on Sunday, Sept. 18 against Bucknell and Mercyhurst at 8 a.m. ET and 12 p.m. ET respectively.
LAST TIME OUT RECAP
McKendree comes into the weekend sporting a 1-0 record after opening the 2022 season on Sept. 3 with a 12-7 home win against Augustana (Ill.) College. In the season opener, three Bearcats scored multiple goals in the win as freshman center/utility player
Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) led the way with four goals, while fifth-year senior attacker
Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) and junior center/utility player
Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) tallied three and two goals respectively.
In goal, junior
Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) and fifth-year senior
Bryce Tully (Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa) each spent a half in goal in the season opener as they allowed a total of seven goals in the game.
SCOUTING MOUNT ST. MARY'S
Mount St. Mary's enters the weekend having won three of its first four games this season as they went 2-1 at the Navy Open in Annapolis, Md. The Mount opened the season with a 13-12 overtime win over Iona before suffering an 18-16 loss to Salem in its next game. The Mount then picked up a win over Biola (14-11) and then collected an exhibition win over Mt. San Antonio College (16-11) to conclude the event.
Leading the way offensively for Mount St. Mary's is sophomore Tommaso Baldineti, who has scored 17 goals and has added six assists, while freshman Chrysostomos Valavanis is second in goals with six and has had four steals. In goal, freshman Sherif Hosni leads the way with 16 saves and has added four assists and three steals, while junior Joseph Maxson has had nine saves, two steals and one assist.
McKendree holds a 1-0 lead all-time against Mount St. Mary's as the Bearcats picked up a 22-12 win in Morgantown, W.Va., on Feb. 14, 2021.
SCOUTING WAGNER
Wagner comes into the weekend having already played eight games on the season as the Seahawks are sporting a 2-6 record and have lost five of their last six games with the lone win in that span coming against Iona College, 16-11.
Leading offensively for Wagner is senior Oliver Fodor, who has scored 23 goals and has added two assists and three steals. Fodor is one of four Seahawks that have scored double-digit goals as freshman Laszlo Strasser has scored 12 goals and has added 16 assists for a team-best 28 points. Junior Zsombor Gyemant and Mattia Bognolo have each had 11 goals, while Gyemant has had 14 assists and Bognolo has had 12 steals.
Wagner has had two players defending the goal this season as senior Kevin Roach has played 184 minutes in goal, allowing 92 goals and recording 41 saves, while sophomore Adam Wuthrich has played 72 minutes in goal, recording 22 saves and allowing 24 goals.
McKendree and Wagner will be meeting for the first time in water polo this weekend.
SCOUTING BUCKNELL
Bucknell, who is hosting this weekend's event, is sporting a 2-5 overall record and is fresh off a 16-9 win over Cal Lutheran to conclude the Princeton Invitational. At the event, Bucknell went 1-2 as along with the win over Cal Lutheran, the Bison fell to both Princeton (18-10) and St. Francis (Brooklyn) (12-10).
Freshman Ian Schultz leads the way offensively for the Bison with 15 goals and has added three assists for 18 points. In addition to Schultz, junior Ethan Jones has had eight goals, while senior Andu Vlasceanu has tallied six goals and has had 92 career goals and 38 assists for a total of 120 career points.
Senior Adrien Touzot has played a majority of the season in goal for Bucknell as he has allowed 20 goals and has made 15 saves on the year.
Bucknell and McKendree will be meeting for the first time in men's water polo this weekend.
SCOUTING MERCYHURST
The Lakers come into the weekend sporting a 1-2 overall record on the season, including a 22-7 loss last Saturday in Washington, Pa., against Augustana (Ill.) College. The Lakers won its first game of season against Long Island (13-11), before dropping matches to both Washington & Jefferson (15-13) and to Augustana (22-7). On the season, the Lakers have scored 33 goals and have allowed 48 goals on the year.
McKendree holds an 8-4 all-time series advantage against Mercyhurst and the Bearcats have won six straight games, including picking up 23-12 win last November in a MAWPC-West Region Tournament game in Morgantown, W.Va.
UP NEXT FOR MCKENDREE
Following its four games in Lewisburg, Pa., McKendree will return to the Keystone State for four Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference games next weekend (Sept. 24-25) held at the Hallman Aquatic Center in Erie, Pa. At the conference crossover weekend, the Bearcats will face George Washington, Bucknell and Johns Hopkins on Sept. 24, before concluding the weekend on Sept. 25 against Mount St. Mary's.
