LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree Men's Water Polo team started their season with a 12-7 win against Augustana College here Saturday afternoon at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.
 
Saturday's season opener was the seventh in the program's history and the fourth time in those seven seasons that the Bearcats have won their season opener. Prior to this season, the last time McKendree won its season opener came in the COVID-19 season of 2020-21 that was played in the spring as the Bearcats defeated Washington & Jefferson College, 24-6.
 
In Saturday's win, freshman center/utility player Cale Koester (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) led the way offensively with four goals, including two of his teams four goals in the fourth period. In addition to Koester, two other Bearcats had multiple goal games as fifth-year senior attacker Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) had three goals, including two in the opening period and junior center/utility player Breno Tebet (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) had two goals in his Bearcats debut.
 
The Bearcats started off the game strong as Rodriguez sank two goals in the first 25 seconds of the game to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead. Augustana, though, would then score two goals over a two-minute period late in the first period to tie the game at 2-all. But with 1:10 left in the period, Koester would score the first of his four goals to give McK a 3-2 lead after the opening eight minutes of play.
 
Rodriguez added his third goal to answer to Augustana's game-tying score at the beginning of the second quarter to give McK a 4-3 lead. Rodriguez's goal began a five-goal flurry for the Bearcats to close the second period to take an 8-3 lead at the half. Along with Rodriguez, the other goals were scored by freshman attacker Justice Lamboy (Santee, Calif./West Hills), Tebet, Koester, and freshman utility player Xander McWhorter (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Woods).
 
The Vikings scored the lone goal in the third period in the final five seconds of the goalkeeper-dominated period to drop McKendree's lead to 8-4 heading into the final period.
 
After the two teams traded goals in the opening 45 seconds of the fourth period with McK's goal coming from graduate student attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) to give McK a 9-5 lead, the Bearcats would use a goal by Tebet and two goals from Koester to push out to an 11-6 lead. Augie's JP Sutton and Stevan Rasic would score the final two goals for Augustana to cut McK's final margin to 12-7.
 
Junior Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley High School) and Bryce Tully (Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa) each spent a half in goal for the Bearcats in Saturday's opener.
 
Cronin, who is one of the team's co-captains, said that their team had to find their pace to win the game.
 
"Especially going into the second quarter, we had to make sure we slowed down our game and were patient. We started off fast and strong which was good, but then we were rushing the ball," Cronin said. "Being adaptable and patient became our keys to success for the game."
 
However, Cronin also said that this game was just the beginning for the Bearcats. "We have a little time off to prepare for our next game which will be good for our young team. We need to continue to grow and get ready for better competition."
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Sept. 17-18 as they will play four games at the Bucknell Invitational in Lewisburg, Pa. The Bearcats open the event on Sept. 17 with a 3:20 p.m. ET game with Mount St. Mary's, before facing Wagner College at 7:20 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. On Sunday, Sept. 18, the Bearcats will face Bucknell at 8 a.m. ET and then conclude the event at 12 p.m. ET against Mercyhurst.
 
Following the varsity game, the Bearcats club team played Augustana in high scoring affair as the Vikings posted a 19-11 win.
 
Leading the way offensively for the club team was graduate student Uros Pelemis (Belgrade, Serbia/Fresno Pacific) with seven goals, while graduate student utility player Michael Rojas (Cali, Colombia/Salem University) scored two goals. Junior center CJ Brushwood (Gresham, Ore./Sam Barlow) and sophomore center Eli Grande (San Bernardino, Calif./Cajon) scored the other two goals for the Bearcats.
 
The two teams combined for 11 goals in the first period as the Vikings led 7-4 after the first eight minutes of play. In the second period, Augie scored five of the seven goals to hold a 12-6 lead at the half.
 
Augie opened the third period by scoring five of the first seven goals to push its lead to 16-9, before two goals by Pelemis helped the Bearcats pull within 16-11 heading into the final period. The Vikings would score the only three goals of the fourth period to seal its win.
 
Colin McDowell paced Augie with five goals, including three in the third period, while Oskar Bannister added four goals and Mark Addrion finished with three goals in the win.
 
The club team's next game is scheduled for late October with an opponent and location to be announced at a later date.