LA VERNE, Calif. -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team began its stay at the 2024 Gary Troyer Tournament on Friday, falling to the No. 6 Whittier Poets by a score of 13-10 before knocking off the UC Merced Bobcats by a final of 12-6.
Against Whittier, the Vikings bounced back from an early 2-0 deficit with consecutive scores by
Tyler Leslie and
Stevan Rasic to pull even, but the Poets notched a tally with under a minute to go to take a 3-2 lead into the second. The Vikings answered with a 3-2 advantage of their own in the frame to make it a 5-5 game at halftime.
Alden Brinkmeier and
Trentin Lechleitner accounted for the first two scores of the frame to give Augie the lead, but two in a row from Whittier moved it back in their favor. An
Oskar Bannister goal as time expired even things up after 16 minutes of action.
The Poets pulled away with a big third quarter, outscoring the Vikings 4-0. Augie put together its best offensive showing of the game in the fourth, securing five goals, but four from Whittier allowed them to keep distance. Bannister scored twice in the final period and tied with Rasic for the team lead in goals with three.
Declan Hutton stopped 13 shots in net and also added a goal himself.
In game two against the Bobcats, both teams struck twice in the opening eight minutes to bring a tie game into the second. The Vikings grabbed the advantage with another two-spot in the quarter, this time holding Merced without a point heading into halftime. Rasic scored half of the team's goals in the first half, while Brinkmeier and
Colin McDowell added the other two.
The Vikings strung together five scores in the third to move the margin out to five entering the final quarter. Rasic scored the first three of the third, while McDowell contributed the final two. The Bobcats mustered two of their own to make it a 9-4 game with eight minutes to play. Rasic notched two more in the fourth and
Mark Addison capped off the 12-6 win with the game's final tally.
Rasic ended with seven goals to lead Augustana, while Hutton collected 18 saves.
With the results, the Vikings now sit at 3-4 on the season. The team will be back in action tomorrow against Biola and No. 3 Chapman.
