NEWBERG, Ore. — Tied at seven-all with 1:31 left in the second quarter, the No. 12-ranked/Missouri Valley Division Champion McKendree University Bearcats outscored the No. 16/New York Division Champion Cadets of the United States Military Academy 9-4 over the remainder of the contest to claim a 16-11 victory in the opening round of the 2022 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Oregon State University at the Chehalem Aquatic and Fitness Center.
The win places McKendree – which is located in Lebanon, Ill., approximately 25 miles outside St. Louis, Mo., – into a quarterfinal showdown at 12:30 p.m. Pacific on Saturday, November 12, with their neighbor/Division III No. 1/No. 11/Great Lakes Division Champion Washington University in St. Louis. The Bears punched their ticket into the quarterfinals by dispatching Southeast Division Champion the University of Alabama, 16-11, earlier in the day.
Due to the loss, Army drops into the consolation side of the bracket as the Cadets will battle the Crimson Tide of Alabama at 7:30 p.m. tonight with hopes of playing its way back to claim Ninth Place in final 16-team championship standings.
The game was nip-tuck in the early going as neither team led by a goal until McKendree’s CJ Brushwod (Sr., Gresham, Ore.) and Michael Rojas (Gr., Cali, Colombia) stroked in even-strength (1:04) and man-up (26 seconds) markers to close out the second quarter and push the Bearcats ahead 9-7 entering halftime.
The lead ballooned to 10-7 at the 4:18 mark of the third quarter as Uros Pelemis (Gr., Belgrade, Serbia) wailed in another strike for McKendree.
However, Army engineered a comeback as Wesley Baca (So., Englewood, Fla.) (3:38) and Max Orlowski (So., Canonsburg, Pa.) (one second, man-up) closed out the third quarter with back-to-back markers before Jorden Corpuz (Jr., Ewa Beach, Hawaii) put away the equalizer at the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter to deadlock the teams at 10-all.
Rojas (6:16) and Robert Demont (So., RIverbank, Calif.) (5:41) provided and erased another one-goal lead for McKendree, but the Bearcats blitzed Army with five goals over the remainder of regulation to escape with the win.
Pelomis (5:00, man-up), Rojas (4:00), Brushwood (3:31, 1:14) and Vlad Puskovitch (Jr., West Chester, Pa.) (2:21) accounted for the five-score run over the final 5:40 of the fourth quarter as McKendree survived and advanced to guarantee itself a Top Eight finish in the 16-team field courtesy the win.
For McKendree, Rojas (six), Brushwood (four) and Pelemis (four) notched multi-goal games to accompany solo markers by Puskovitch and Luke Schmidt (So., St. Louis, Mo.). Benton Fonner (So., St. Louis, Mo.) made 11 saves to earn the win in cage for the Bearcats as the team is guaranteed to post its third Top Eight mark after previously claiming Sixth (2022) and Eighth (2016) Place in two prior trips to the event.
Daniel Reimchen (Sr., Lake Orion, Calif.) (four) and Baca (three) notched multi-goal games for Army with Corpuz, Orlowski, Arthur Veliskha (Sr., Alexandria, Va.) and Demont combining for their team’s other four tallies.
Mason Calbert (Sr., Valley Center, Calif.) took the loss with 13 saves in cage for the Cadets.
The 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 New York Division Champions, Army’s history in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) predates the formation of divisions as the program captured the 1994 National Collegiate Club Championship against the University of Dayton. Since 2000, Army has placed Eighth (2017), 12th (2001, 2016, 2019) and 13th (2002, 2018) as the team has a chance to equal its third best finish in history if the squad can win out in the consolation bracket and claim Ninth Place.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 16 U.S. Military Academy |
4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | – | 11 |
| No. 12 McKendree University | 5 | 4 | 1 | 6 | – | 16 |
| McKendree Goals: | Michael Rojas (6); CJ Brushwood (4); Uros Pelemis (4); Vlad Puskovitch; Luke Schmidt | |||||
| Army Goals: | Daniel Reimchen (4); Wesley Baca (3); Jorden Corpuz; Max Orlowski; Arthur Velishka; Robert Demont |
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| Saves: | McKendree – Benton Fonner (11) ; Army – Mason Calbert (13) | |||||
| Exclusions: | McKendree – 5 ; Army -10 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | McKendree – 3-for-10 ; Army – 1-for-5 | |||||
| Sprints: | McKendree – 0-for-4; Army – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Gene Gill, Mark Seidemann | |||||
United States Military Academy’s Robert Demont (#2) shoots over McKendree University’s Luke Schmidt (#10)
McKendree University’s Michael Rojas (#9) defends the United States Military Academy’s Thomas Beggs (#18)
McKendree University’s Michael Rojas (#9)
