McKendree University-vs.-Salem University Scoresheet (Championship Game)
ERIE, Pa. — Goalie Ori Scanlon (So., Orlando, Fla./Olympia) capped off a 2018 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Region Championship tournament Most Valuable Player performance by making 14 saves, including eight in the first quarter to allow his team to stay in the game, as second-year varsity program and tournament No. 4 seed McKendree University downed Salem University, 13-12, to capture the 2018 MAWPC-West Championship at the David M Hallman Aquatics Center.
The win earns the Bearcats a berth in the 2018 MAWPC Championship against Bucknell University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, La Salle University, the United States Naval Academy, Wagner College and host Fordham University on Friday-Sunday, November 16-18, in the Bronx, N.Y.
In a game which came down to one-goal, the first quarter was a shootout as the teams combined for 12 goals to go into the second quarter deadlocked at six-all.
McKendree drew first blood in the game as Joseph Mahan (Jr., Corinth, Texas/John H Guyer) beat Salem netminder Mateo Kozomara (Sr., Saravejo, Bosnia/Maine East) 52 seconds into the game for an early 1-0 lead. Robert Juhas (Jr., Pancevo, Serbia/Electrotechnical “Nikola Tesla”) responded for the Tigers to knot the score at one-all via a man-up strike at 5:51, but 2018 MAWPC-West Rookie of the Tournament Matthew Haygood (Fr., Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) returned a one-goal margin to McKendree 50 seconds later to make it a 2-1 game.
Again, the Tigers answered as Michael Rojas (So., Valle del Cauca, Cali, Colombia/Colegio San Joaquin Parroquial) lined in a five-meter penalty shot to balance the scoreboard at two-all. The teams repeated the pattern once more as Izaya Owotor (Jr., Portland, Ore./David Douglas) and Mike Diaz (Fr., Visalia, Calif./El Diamante) hammered home shots at 3:57 and 3:06, respectively, to keep the programs in a virtual deadheat.
Salem finally flipped the script and went in front for the first time with 2:19 on the clock courtesy a volley by Rojas, but the Bearcats kept the tradition alive by coming back to even the score at four-all with 1:29 to play in the first quarter as Adrian Maher (So., Keller, Texas/Keller) tickled the twine.
The back-and-forth between the two teams kept repeating itself as Salem tallied goals by Austin Kephart (Fr., Sanford, Fla./Seminole) (1:12) and Rojas (26 seconds) to acquire 5-4 and 6-5 leads, but McKendree countered with strikes from Abraham Allen (So., Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) (42 seconds) and Ben Brauer (Fr., Duisburg, Germany/Steinbart-Gymnasium Duisburg) (12 seconds) to pull even prior to the concluding horn of the first quarter to stand in a six-all tie after eight minutes of competition.
Brauer’s equalizer fueled a four-goal outburst by the Bearcats which would prove decisive as Salem never again was tied or led in the game.
Haygood continued the run in the second quarter started by Brauer in the opening frame by hitting the back of the cage with a shot at the 7:18 mark. Owotor (6:39) and Mahan (6:10) followed to provide the Bearcats a 9-6 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter.
Salem chipped its deficit down to a pair at 2:58 as Diaz drove in a man-up goal, but Maher expanded the spread back to three before halftime by slicing in a shot with 1:31 on the clock to make it 10-7 at the break.
The Tigers attempted to pull even in the dawning moments of the third quarter as Milos Popovic (Jr., Nis, Serbia/Gimnasium 9 May) put away six-on-five (5:20) and natural (4:40) tallies to make it a one-goal game at 10-9.
Following an answer by Brauer at 4:04 to return the lead to a pair at 11-9, Salvador Orozco (Jr., Commerce, Calif./Cerritos College) again pulled Salem within one at 11-10 with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter.
Allen provided the Bearcats some breathing room as he lined in a man-up shot 25 seconds (3:25) following Orozco’s score to make it 12-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
Popovic attempted to begin another Salem comeback by flicking in a shot 59 seconds into the fourth quarter to move the Tigers within one at 12-11.
However, the teams traded man-up goals over the remainder of the contest as Nico Rodriguez (Fr., Winter Park, Fla./Oviedo) pushed the McKendree lead back to a pair at 13-11 with 3:19 left before Popovic delivered the final blow at 2:16 for the 13-12 final score.
For McKendree, Owotor, Brauer, Allen, Mahan, Maher and Haygood all scored twice with Rodriguez adding a solo marker in support of Scanlon’s 14-save performance.
McKendree, which becomes the third Division II school to win the MAWPC-West Championship following Mercyhurst University (2016) and Gannon University (2017), downed the fourth Division II team in the West Region of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference. Further, the McKendree-Salem title tilt marked the second time in as many years two Division II programs clashed for the crown as Gannon downed Mercyhurst by a 15-10 score 12 months ago.
Salem, which like McKendree was appearing in its first conference championship game, received multi-goal games from Popovic (four), Rojas (three) and Diaz (two) to go along with single scores by Kephart, Juhas and Orozco. Kozomara stopped 17 shots in taking the loss.
Following the conclusion of the championship award presentation, the league announced the 2018 MAWPC-West Championship All-Tournament Team:
| 2018 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West Region | |
| Most Valuable Player: | Ori Scanlon (McKendree University) |
| Coach of the Tournament: | Colleen Lischwe (McKendree University) |
| Rookie of the Tournament: | Matthew Haygood (McKendree University) |
| First Team | |
| Ori Scanlon (Goalie) | McKendree University |
| Joseph Mahan | McKendree University |
| Zarko Sadikovic | Gannon University |
| Thomas Squeglia | Gannon University |
| Daniel Alvarez | Mercyhurst University |
| Philip Jenny | Mercyhurst University |
| Milos Popovic | Salem University |
| Second Team | |
| Brett Rehrer (Goalie) | Gannon University |
| Inigo Velasco | Salem University |
| Michael Rojas | Salem University |
| Salvador Orozco | Salem University |
| Ben Brauer | McKendree University |
| Matthew Haygood | McKendree University |
| Arturo Freitas | Connecticut College |
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Salem University | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | – | 12 |
| McKendree University | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | – | 13 |
| McKendree Goals: | Izaya Owotor (2); Ben Brauer (2); Abraham Allen (2); Joseph Mahan (2); Adrian Maher (2); Matthew Haygood (2); Nico Rodriguez | |||||
| Salem Goals: | Milos Popovic (4); Michael Rojas (3); Mike Diaz (2); Austin Kephart; Robert Juhas; Salvador Orozco | |||||
| Saves: | McKendree – Ori Scanlon (14) ; Salem – Mateo Kozomara (17) | |||||
| Exclusions: | McKendree – 13 ; Salem – 7 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | McKendree – 2-for-7 ; Salem – 5-for-12 | |||||
| Sprints: | McKendree – 2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) ; Salem – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | Salem – YC (Head coach Rob Bullion, one second left in 3rd Q), RC (Petar Leontijevic, 1:39 left in 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Hadi Farid, Igor Mernenko | |||||
2018 McKendree University Coaching Staff: Jen Liu, Colleen Lischwe, Jeff Passwater
2018 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West Region Champion: McKendree University
2018 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West Region Championship Runner-Up: Salem University
2018 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West Region Third Place: Gannon University
