LEBANON, Ill. – The men's water polo team will find themselves back in action after a week to recoup and re-energize, as they will make their way east and compete in the Salem Invitational from Saturday, October 25th, to Sunday, October 26th at The Bridge Sports Complex in Bridgeport, West Virginia. 

The Bearcats will get four matches in, with half of them against WWPA foes and the other pair for non-conference games. Their first two contests on Saturday will feature them against WWPA East Region leader Gannon University and then later at night against an old conference opponent in Mercyhurst University. McKendree will wrap up on Sunday versus the host Salem University bright and early, and will conclude in a face-off against Washington & Jefferson College. 

All contests will be streamed live and on-demand for free on the WWPA Network at https://team1sports.com/wwpa/ as live stats will also be provided via The FOSH at https://www.thefosh.net/. 

SCOUTING THE LAST OUTING 

McKendree went an impressive 3-1 two weeks ago in hosting their annual WWPA Bearcat Clash in O'Fallon, Illinois. They went undefeated on Saturday, October 11th, with wins over Ottawa University Arizona [17-15] and Salem [13-9]. The next day, they lost a very close one to Gannon [14-15], but were able to rebound immensely with a victory over in-state rival Augustana College [19-17]. 

The well-rounded slate in the event resulted in the Bearcats moving to 8-10 overall with a 1-1 mark in conference play, and will hope to clinch the top of the east this weekend. 

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME-FALLON 

Aside from their 3-0 week at the Erie Invitational Classic earlier this season, the Bearcats were in much need of another .500+ weekend. That was the case from the Clash in the team's last outing, as their 3-1 end result was nowhere near a walk in the park. McKendree had to earn every goal and be ready for every opposing shot at their net, but with the loud roar of the McKendree faithful clapping and cheering them on throughout all 128 minutes of gameplay inside the muggy McKendree Metro Rec Plex, it may have given the home squad an indispensable advantage. 

Junior center defender Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) was on a tear offensively, especially in McKendree's final game of the event, where he went for a career-high nine goals on 14 shot attempts (64.3%) in one of the team's most thrilling games of the season against the Vikings. He finished the event with 21 points, 17 goals, four assists, seven drawn exclusions, four steals, and shot 58.6% at the goal. 

Despite the electric performance by Robertson, junior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) led the Clash in points with 23 as he supplemented with 14 goals, nine assists, a drawn exclusion, three steals, five field blocks, and shot 50.0% at the net. Le Goff now has 11 hat-tricks for the season, and has converted 50.0% or better on shot attempts the same number of times.  

Junior attacker James Ramey (St. Louis, Mo.) and freshman attacker Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) also gave the Bearcats an offensive boost with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Ramey had 11 goals and a trio of assists, while Prokopis found the back of the net five times, and assisted the ball 11. 12 takeaways were combined from the two as they lead the field defensively as well. 

As for interior defense, goalkeepers Gavin Haight (redshirt sophomore; Jenison, Mich.) and Gennaro Pecoraro (graduate; Pesaro, Italy) split their time evenly once again with the cage duties. The former went 2-0 in his game against Ottawa AZ and Augustana with 13 total saves and five steals on a 28.9 save percentage. The latter went 1-1 against Salem and Gannon, respectively, with 23 combined saves and four takeaways, and had a save percentage of 48.9%. 

TEAM TOPPERS 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After the Salem Invitational, McKendree will get roughly a month's break before they compete in the WWPA Championships in Geneva, Ohio at the SPIRE Aquatics Center from Friday, November 21st, to Sunday, November 23rd, as Gannon will host the postseason tournament. 

Pending on how the Bearcats fare against Gannon and Salem in this weekend's event, it will solidify where McKendree will be placed in the conference's bracket in the east region, and what their matchups will contain. Should the Bearcats win it all, they will earn an automatic bid into the National Collegiate (NCAA) Water Polo Championships in Stanford, California from December 5th through 7th. 

All games for the WWPA Championships will be streamed live for free on the WWPA Network, as live stats will also be provided via The FOSH. Ticket information is to be announced. 

TUNE IN-FO 

Make sure to keep up with McKendree University Water Polo on  X (Twitter) and Instagram. #NCAAwaterpolo 

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