STANFORD, Calif. -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team won its fourth straight MPSF East Championship after a 16-15 victory following four overtime quarters against Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. 

The Vikings found the back of the net first with a successful shot by Ian Palmroos, with Mark Addison collecting the assist. Stevan Rasic followed with another goal for Augie to lead 2-0. Declan Hutton stole Johns Hopkins' possession that allowed James Davis to pass the ball to Addison, who reached the back of the cage and stretched the game to 3-0. The Blue Jays added two to the scoreboard before Addison scored another attempt to close the first quarter with a score of 4-2. 

In the second, Johns Hopkins put up two more points to even the game at 4-4 before taking the two-point lead with four minutes remaining in the first half. Ben Symington immediately followed to squash the gap to one, and Addison put the deadlock at six apiece. The teams traded shots in the final minute of play, with Augie's coming from Tyler Lesie, but the Blue Jays led 8-7 entering the halftime break.

Returning from the break, Johns Hopkins moved the differential back to two. A minute later, Mason Landes added a goal with Addison being credited with the assist. Both teams traded shots, with Alden Brinkemeier sinking a shot off a pass by Rhys Lomax. The Blue Jays notched another goal with 14 seconds remaining to lead 11-9 heading into the fourth quarter. 

In the fourth, both teams showed a strong defensive game, with both teams scoreless until 2:35 when Cole Faux found the back of the net off a pass by Stevan Rasic. Johns Hopkins immediately followed to pull the gap back to two at 12-10 with 2:17 to play. 45 seconds later, Augie shot back-to-back goals to even the game at 12-12 with the Vikings' points coming from Bannister and Lomax. Both teams attempted shots in the final 30 seconds of play, with Leslie field blocking the Blue Jays' attempt to force an extra quarter. 

In overtime, Addison quickly found the back of the cage off a pass by Symington to take the early lead before Johns Hopkins immediately followed to draw the score even once more. The Blue Jays pulled away 45 seconds later with a clutch goal by Bannister with 19 seconds remaining, putting the teams back in a deadlock.

Johns Hopkins scored the first goal in the second overtime quarter, and Declan Hutton stuffed their next attempt to keep the game alive. Lomax collected a goal 6 on 5 after Rasic earned an exclusion to move the game at 15 apiece. The Blue Jays attempted two more shots, with Hutton saving the final one to move the battle to the third overtime. 

The third overtime saw another strong defensive showing with the teams trading shot attempts. The Vikings outshot Johns Hopkins 3-2, with shots coming from Addison and Lomax, while Hutton tallied another save to push the game to overtime number four.

Augustana won the sprint in the fourth overtime to allow Bannister to settle with the ball. Bannister passed back and forth to Lomax before giving Rasic an attempt. Rasic was then double-teamed, so he threw possession back to Lomax, who lobbed the ball to the back corner of the net and sealed the 16-15 sudden death victory.  

10 individuals scored in the win, with Addison leading with four goals and four assists. Lomax followed with three goals, and Bannister had two. Hutton finished the game with 19 goals and three steals.

With the win, Augie improves to 16-8 on the season and will be back in action for the USA Water Polo DIII National Tournament on Dec. 6-7.