Cambridge, Mass.– McKendree men's water polo opened the season with an east coast road trip where they competed against Iona University, MIT, Wagner College, and Harvard University. 

The Bearcats' first game of the season came against the Iona University Gaels where freshman Isaac Demski scored two goals in the first quarter, and senior Adam Serrano added one more to get the game going. Tied up 3-3 after the first quarter, junior Jespyn Bishop scored the lone goal of the second as the Bearcats fell into an 8-4 deficit. 

Down four after the half senior Breno Tebet added two goals, Isaac Demski scored his third of the day, and juniors Alex Napawan, and Blake Wind contributed to scoring. Despite winning the quarter 5-4 the Bearcats still were trailing 12-9 after three quarters. 

Beginning the fourth quarter Isaac Demski poured in two more goals and Breno Tebet stayed hot adding another goal to the stat sheet as well. James Lamboy scored late for the Bearcats, but this was not enough to cut into the hole that they were in. Demski's goal at the 58 second's mark would be the final of the game as they fell to the Gael's 16-13. 

Later in the afternoon the Bearcats got back in the pool to play against MIT engineers. After MIT scored quickly to give the Engineers a 1-0 lead, freshman Zach Callejas scored his first goal of the season knotting it up at 1-1. Isaac Demski continued his scoring streak from earlier in the day adding another goal to the Bearcats scoreboard, but MIT added three more of their own in the meantime making it 5-2 after one quarter.  

The second quarter saw the Bearcats get back into the game by adding two more goals courtesy of Alex Napawan and sophomore James Ramey, but that was not enough as the Engineers marched into a 6-4 lead going into the half. The third quarter saw Issac Demski throw another goal in, and Breno Tebet get into the action with a goal of his own, but the fourth quarter saw a defensive matchup. The engineers tallied one goal, while holding the Bearcats scoreless resulting in a 10-6 loss. 

Sunday was a new day for the Bearcats, and they started off the day with a match against the Wagner College Seahawks. Isaac Demski scored two goals in the first continuing his sizzling scoring weekend, but the Bearcats were down 5-4 after one. 

After the Seahawks took an 8-5 lead going into the half, the Seahawks proved too be too strong as they contrived a 13-7 lead after three quarters, and the Bearcats finished the game scoring one goal in the fourth quarter by Zach Callejas as the Seahawks swooped into a 17-8 final  

Rounding out the weekend the Bearcats took on the Harvard Crimson. A slow start by the Bearcats allowed for the Crimson to jump into an early 7-2 lead after the first quarter. Despite James Ramey's three first half goals, the Bearcats were down 13-4 hole at halftime. The second half was much of the same as the Bearcats fell to the Harvard Crimson 23-7.  

The Bearcats will compete again Sat. Sept.23-24 at the Salem Invitational in Morgantown, W.Va. where they will play against Penn State, Mount Saint Mary's (MD), Navy, and Washington and Jefferson College.