MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The McKendree University men's water polo team outshot No. 2 seeded Gannon (Pa.), 43-34, but was outscored 5-2 in the first half of its 15-13 setback to the Golden Knights in the championship game of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West Regional Championship here Sunday morning at the Mylan Aquatic Park.

With the loss, McKendree falls to 10-9 on the season, while Gannon (Pa.) improved to 13-8 on the season and claims its third MAWPC-West Region title and first since 2019. Additionally, Gannon advances to eight-team MAWP Championship, which is scheduled for Nov. 19-21 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. The winner of the MAWPC Championship earns a spot in the 2021 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship, which is set to be hosted by the UCLA on Dec. 2-5 in Los Angeles, Calif.

In Sunday's game against Gannon, the top-seeded Bearcats put pressure on the Gannon defense the entire game as they took nine more shots than the Golden Knights, but Gannon was able to score two more goals, including a 3-0 and 6-4 advantage in the first and third periods respectively. 

Leading the way offensively for the Bearcats was senior utilty player Matthew Haygood (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) as he tallied five goals, while senior attacker Josh Carlson (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way West) added four goals and an assist for five points. The other Bearcats to score multiple goals in the game were graduate student utilty player Uros Pelemis (Belgrade, Serbia/Fresno Pacific) and senior attacker Nico Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo). 

Pelemis and Carlson were named to the First-Team All-Tournament Team, while Haygood, graduate student utility player Michael Rojas (Cali, Colombia/Salem University) and fifth-year senior goalie Ori Scanlon (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) were named to the Second-Team All-Tournament Team. 

Gannon owned the first period as they scored all three goals, with two of them coming from Drago Marjanovic, to lead 3-0 after the opening eight minutes of action. 

Haygood would score McKendree's first goal just two-plus minutes into the second period to cut GU's lead to 3-1. After Gannon added two more goals to push their lead to 5-1, Carlson scored his first goal of the game with 1:48 left in the period to cut Gannon's lead to 5-2 at the half. 

The Golden Knights opened the third period by scoring the first three goals to push its lead to 8-2 just three minutes into the period. Haygood would add a second goal to cut GU's lead to 8-3, before Gannon added three more goals to push in front 11-3 with 2:34 left in the third period. Carlson, though, would score two straight goals and Haygood added a goal to cut Gannon's lead to 11-6 heading into the final period. 

Much like the third period, the fourth period featured a total of 11 goals as McKendree outscored the Golden Knights, 7-4 to make things interesting down the stretch. In the period, Gannon scored three of the first four goals to push its lead to 14-7 a little under three minutes into the period. 

That scoring flurry seemed to ignite the Bearcats as two goals by Haywood and single goals by both Carlson and Pelemis dropped Gannon's lead to 14-11 with 2:43 left in the game. Dylan Schmitzerle scored a goal with 57 seconds left to give Gannon a 15-11 lead. Rodriguez would score two goals in span of 37 seconds to cap the scoring and make the final margin of two goals. 
 
Fifth-year senior Ori Scanlon (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) allowed 12 goals and recorded seven saves, while sophomore Jimmy Cronin (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) allowed three goals and made two saves in the game. 

Gannon was paced offensively by four goals and two assists by Marjanovic, while Schmitzerle added three goals and Anthony Squeglia had five points as he scored a goal and added four assists for five points. 
 
Alvaro Marco played all 32 minutes in goal and allowed 13 goals and made 16 saves and recorded a .522 save percentage. 

Here are the results from the 2021 MAWPC-West Region Championships.