Men's water polo won the Missouri Valley Division Championship October 15-16 at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Missouri. It was the fifth straight conference title for the Lions.
After earning a win against the Lindenwood B squad, the Lions faced Washington University in the semifinals and came away with a 20-5 victory. Toni Storic led the team with nine goals in the match, while Javier Platero scored three. Nikola Nasev and Weston White each added two, and Marc Tahull, Andrew Rabe, and Jarod Lawson all scored once. Mario Caballero and Lance Clark split goaltending duties with Caballero making six saves and Clark making two. Lindenwood also had success on penalty shots, making two, five-meter goals.
It was a rematch against rival McKendree University in the finals on Sunday. The Lions scored the first goal of the game and never looked back in a 22-4 win over the Bearcats. Storic was the offensive leader again with eight goals while Platero, Tahull, and Alex Cukic each put three in the cage. Nasev and Jesse Frazier netted two goals each and Lawson added a single marker. The goaltending tandem was solid again with Caballero stopping nine shots while Clark made six saves.
Storic finished with a total of 17 goals for the weekend, followed by Platero with six goals and eight assists. Tahull and Nasev each totaled four goals, with Caballero making a total of 13 saves while Clark had eight on the weekend.
With the division victory, Lindenwood earned the automatic berth into the 2016 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Men's Division I Collegiate Club Championship November 11-13. The Lions will be seeking their third straight national title at the event, which will be hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Lindenwood will be the top seed and will face the No. 16 team in the opening round.
In other action at the Missouri Valley Division Championship, the Lions B squad finished fifth, going 2-1 with a 22-2 win over Missouri S & T and a 22-14 victory against Missouri. The loss came to the Lindenwood A squad. Jacob Jagadzinski led the B team with a total of 12 goals, followed closely by Scott Kelly who had 11. Curro Casado added seven for the weekend, Joseph Rehmet had four markers, and Sean Welch scored three times. Michael Jordan and Gojko Milutinovic each scored twice while Eduardo Ariste and Tyler Sanfilippo each had a single goal.