Lindenwood Men’s Water Polo Advances to Nationals with Wins at Conference Championship

Men's water polo earned victories over the University of Missouri and over Washington University on Saturday to win the Missouri Valley Division Championship tournament and advance to the 2018 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Men's Division I Club Championship in November.

The top seeded Lions first stopped the No. 5 seeded Tigers 24-5 on the strength of four goal games from Jamie Gambin and Sean Welch.  Vuk Budrak and Pol VizueteSandoval each netted three markers while Mitch Griffin added two.  Branislaw Stojiljkovic, Edu Ariste, Curro Cassado, Brandon Murdock, and Koal Robson each scored once, and freshman Simon Everts found the back of the cage on a penalty shot.  Goalie Lance Clark made five saves and Anthony Coppin three saves in split duties.

Lindenwood turned its attention to the No. 4 seeded Bears next and claimed a 14-6 win.  Budrak was the top scoring force with four shots in the cage.  Gambin played a big part as well with two markers, three assists, and a steal.  Jorge Oliveros, Murdock, and Griffin each scored twice while Sean Welch and Cassado each scored once.  Clark had two saves while goaltending and three steals in the field while Coppin made three saves in the match.

The two victories advanced the Lions to the conference championship game to face the winner of the other side of the bracket, which proved to be the Lindenwood Gold B squad.

They advanced with wins over Missouri S & T and McKendree University.  Lindenwood Gold stopped the No. seven seeded Miners 23-0.  Andreja Babic paced the offense with seven markers and two assists.  Marino Chorro and Ratimir Babic each scored four times with Babic also netting a five-meter penalty shot.  Viktor Nagy found the cage three times while Nikola Nasev scored twice.  Freshman Albi Isufai added a single tally as did freshman Benedek Horcath, who scored the final goal of the game on a nice backhand over the goaltender.  Arnau Bayer, Colt Correa, and Hunter Basnight spent time in goal for the team shutout, and Bayer and Correa also each had a steal in the match.

Lindenwood Gold advanced to the championship game with a 14-2 victory over the Bearcats.  The Lions held McKendree scoreless in the first half while netting seven goals.  Lindenwood Gold outscored the Bearcats 7-2 in the second half for the final margin.  Andreja Babic led the offense with four markers and an assist.  Andres Miranda, Nasev, Ratimir Babic, and freshman Guillermo Aguirre each scored twice while Chorro and Horcath added one goal each.  Bayer made seven saves in the first half while Correa stopped five shots in the second half for the Lions. 

With both Lindenwood teams advancing to the Missouri Valley Division title match, by rule, the top squad earned a 5-0 victory, giving the Lions a seventh straight conference championship. 

Lindenwood will seek its fourth national title in the last five years at the 2018 CWPA Men's Division I Club Championship November 9-11 at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.  After winning the previous three national titles, the Lions were upset in the first round last year.