Box Score ERIE, Pa. -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team secured a third-place finish on Sunday at the DIII Eastern Championships following a come-from-behind 20-18 victory over the Austin 'Roos in overtime.
The 'Roos doubled up the Vikings after eight minutes of action, scoring six first-quarter goals to lead 6-3 after the opening frame. The two teams played to an even tie in the second quarter, each tallying five scores as Austin maintained their three-goal advantage at the half.
In the third, both teams continued to trade scores, each posting two goals to keep the margin intact. Austin led 13-10 heading into the final quarter.
The Vikings found themselves needing to play catch-up in the fourth, trailing by five goals with just minutes to go. Augustana slowly started to trim the margin, cutting it to one point as time dwindled down. With seven seconds remaining on the clock,
JP Sutton took the ball out of a timeout and let a shot go as time expired, sending it into the back of the net to even the game at 16-16 and push it to overtime. Sutton finished the contest with two goals, both coming in the fourth quarter. He also added five assists.
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In the extra session, the Vikings posted a slight 2-1 margin in the opening three minutes, seeing goals from
Colin McDowell and
Zander O'Dwyer. Augie closed out the final half of the overtime period with an identical margin, hanging on for the two-point victory.
Joseph Addison led the team's scoring efforts with five goals, followed by four each from McDowell and
Stevan Rasic.
With the win, Augustana improves to 11-5 on the season and is now 6-0 on the year against fellow conference opponents. The team will host McKendree in their next game on November 12 for their first and only home contest of the season. Start time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
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