USAF ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team dropped its first two games of the Rare Air Invite on Saturday, falling to the Biola Eagles by a score of 16-9 and the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen by a final of 10-7 in overtime.

The Vikings had a fast start in their opener against Biola, scoring the first three points of the game and five of the first six to bring a 5-1 lead into the second period. Five different Augie players scored in the opening frame. The Eagles answered with a big quarter of their own in the second, out-scoring the Vikings 6-0 to make it a 7-5 lead in their favor heading into halftime. 

Biola notched the first two goals of the second half to extend its advantage out to four, but Stevan Rasic halted the momentum with a tally around the six-minute mark in the third. The Eagles responded with five more strikes in the period and held a plus-four margin to push the lead out to 14-8 entering the fourth. A low-scoring period followed, with the Vikings finding the back of the net just once to complete the 16-9 triumph for Biola.

Seven different Vikings scored in the loss. Oskar Bannister was the lone member to secure multiple goals, leading the way with three.

Against the No. 5 ranked Kingsmen in game two, Augie bounced back from an early 2-0 deficit with the final four goals of the opening quarter. The Vikings again saw a balanced attack with four different players notching scores in the frame. Trentin Lechleitner capped off the scoring run with a strike with just two seconds remaining to give Augustana a 4-2 advantage through eight minutes. Cal Lutheran claimed the lead back with the first three goals of the second quarter, but Augie evened the score right before half following Lucas Osborn's goal with 50 seconds to go. The two teams brought a 5-5 score into the break.

Rasic moved the Vikings back out in front with a score just 15 seconds into the second half, but the Kingsmen answered two minutes later to knot the game back up a 6-6. Neither team found the back of the net for the remainder of the quarter and the 6-6 score remained intact heading into the fourth. Rasic again found an early strike to begin the final frame, but like the third, Cal Lutheran drew even shortly after. Defense stole the show to end regulation and the two teams remained deadlocked at 7-7 to force overtime. The Kingsmen scored the only three goals in the extra session to steal the 10-7 victory.

Rasic scored three times to lead Augustana. Declan Hutton finished with 17 saves in net.

With the losses, Augie moves to 1-2 on the season. The team will be back in action tomorrow vs. No. 10 La Verne and Air Force.