SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College men's water polo opened up its 2021 campaign against nationally-ranked Division I opponent Air Force on Saturday, with the 'Roos falling by scores of 18-10 and 18-4 to the Falcons in Hannah Natatorium.

In the first game of the day, Austin College fell behind 5-0 after the first quarter before a Cade Griffith goal got them on the board. Air Force would respond with three straight to make it 8-1, with the 'Roos getting a tally from Andrew Pope with 1:12 left before halftime to make it 8-2 at the break. Air Force opened the third quarter with five straight goals to make it 13-2, but the 'Roos answered with a five goal run of their own to cut it to a 13-7 game. Dylan McArthur got the scoring started, with Max Wade finding the net twice during the run while Griffith and Alex Rodriguez also scored.

The Air Force lead grew to 15-7 midway through the fourth quarter, but Wade and Kyle Brown scored to make it 16-9. However, Air Force would score two more quick goals to push it to an 18-9 game to put things out of reach. Wade found the next one more time with under a minute remaining to make it an 18-10 final. 

Air Force jumped out to a commanding lead early on in game two, scoring the first seven goals of the game before McArthur scored at the buzzer to make it a 7-1 game after the first quarter. Five straight goals to open the second quarter pushed the margin to 12-1 before Wade got the 'Roos on the board again, but the Falcons would score two more times to make it a 13-2 game at halftime. Tobias Ward scored to open the third quarter and make it 13-3, but Air Force scored three times to push the lead to 16-3 with three quarters in the books. Brady Andrews found the back of the cage to make it 16-4 early in the fourth, but that would be the last goal of the game for the 'Roos while Air Force tacked on a pair of scores to make it an 18-4 final score.