Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 O'FALLON, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team defeated the Gannon Knights by a score of 11-9 and the Ottawa Spirit 17-11 to sit at 2-0 after day one of the McKendree Mini. 

In game one against Gannon, Rhys Lomax found the back of the net early with help from Oskar  Bannnister to take the early advantage. Both teams remained scoreless until 36 seconds remaining in the first period when the Knights evened the game at one apiece. 

In the second period, Gannon tallied another before Trentin Lechleitner secured a goal of his own off a pass by Lomax to tie the game at 2-2. The teams went back and forth with goals, with Bannister securing Augie's off a pass by Ian Pamroos, and Stevan Rasic followed with a successful shot, with Ben Symington setting up the goal to regain the lead 4-3. The Knights tallied another before Rasic found the back of the net once more with an assist from Tyler Leslei, and Alden Brinkmeier secured a successful penalty shot to move the game 6-4. Gannon put up two more goals to even the game at six apiece entering halftime.

Returning to action, both teams fended off shots until James Davis found the back of the net at 5:42 to take the 7-6 lead. A minute later, Bannister collected another goal off a pass by Palmroos to stretch the gap to two. The Knight followed with one of their own before Lomax scored on a six-on-five play. Gannon tallied another with 12 seconds remaining in the period to create a 9-8 score. 

In the fourth, the Knights evened the score at 9-9 before back-to-back successful shots by Bannister and Lomax moved Augie ahead 11-9 with 3:11 remaining in the game. Gannon attempted three shots but was unsuccessful in concluding the game 11-9. 

Bannister led the team with seven shots, three goals, and two assists. Declan Hutton saved 17 shots and two steals in his 32 minutes in goal. 

In game two, Rasic found the back of the net early off a pass by Lomax to obtain the early lead. Lomax followed with a goal of his own before Rasic secured a successful shot with the credited assist to Mark Addison to create a 3-0 score. At 2:39, Rasic put another in the back of the cage off a pass by Palmroos, and Brinkmeier followed 30 seconds later with an assist by Rasic to stretch the gap 5-0. Rasic finished the period with a shot to the back of the net with an assist by Symington to create a 6-0 score after eight minutes of play.

In the second period, Mason Landes shoots and scores off a pass by Bannister before Ottawa got their first two points on the scoreboard. Both teams remained scoreless for the rest of the period to make a 7-2 score entering halftime.

Returning to action, Landes fired off another shot with Palmroos being credited with the assist, and Palmroos secured one of his own two minutes later to stretch the gap 9-2. The Spirit tallied another before Bannister collected a successful shot, and Brinkmeier followed with a goal off a pass by Hutton to make an 11-3 score. With 1:57 remaining, Rasic put the ball in the back of the net off a pass by Addison, and Ottawa secured two to close the third period 12-5.

In the final period, Landes shoots and scores before Symington beats the goalie with an assist by Lechleitner to move the score to 14-5. Ottawa followed with two before Lomax dented the twine off a ball from Bannister. The Spirits put up two more before Wilson Smith found the back of the cage off a pass by Ronin Araucto. Ottawa collected two more goals before Bence Kovacs-Siklosi added a tally to the scoresheet on a penatly shot to close the game 17-11.

Rasic led the team with five goals and an assist, while Landes tallied three. Hutton saved 15 shots and had two assists in his 28 minutes in goal.

With the two wins, Augie moves to 6-4 on the season and will be back in action for day two of the McKendree Mini tomorrow.