ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team secured its first-ever home victory in the program's short history on Saturday, defeating the visiting McKendree Bearcats by a final of 17-16.
After an opening goal from the Bearcats, the Vikings answered back with five straight of their own in their first quarter. Five different Augie players tallied a score during that span, with the Vikings first eight goals all coming off of the hand of someone different. Augustana led 6-2 after eight minutes of action and held a slight 5-4 advantage in the second quarter to take an 11-6 lead into halftime.
Mark Addison,
Oskar Bannister, and
JP Sutton all had a pair of goals to lead the Vikings through the first two quarters.
McKendree began the third period with three consecutive scores to cut the margin to just two, but were met by a 3-0 run from the Vikings to cushion the lead back out to five. The Bearcats grabbed three of the next four goals, but a
Zion Thomas score with three seconds left helped stall the momentum for the visitors. A 6-5 advantage for McKendree in the third brought the score to 16-12 in favor of Augie heading into the final frame.
Stevan Rasic pushed the Augustana lead back out to five to kick off the fourth quarter, but the Vikings endured a late rally from the Bearcats as two goals within the next minute and two more in the final 90 seconds made it a one-point game. A last-second heave out of a timeout from the Bearcats was stopped by
Declan Hutton, giving the Vikings their first-ever home victory and snapping a three-game losing streak to McKendree.
A total of 10 different Vikings notched a goal, led by Addison with three. The freshman also added three steals. Five others had two goals for Augie, including Bannister, who also posted a team-high four assists. Hutton finished with 12 saves in net.
With the win, Augustana improves to 12-5 overall. The team will head to the west coast for their next outing beginning on Friday, November 18 as they take on No. 4 ranked NCAA DI opponent Stanford in the opening round. Start time is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. CST from Los Angeles, Calif.
