CLAREMONT, Calif. – The men's water polo team could not contain the powerhouse programs on day one of the prestigious Gary Troyer Tournament, losing 9-21 to both No.7 University of California San Diego and T-No.13 California Baptist University in Claremont, California.
GAME ONE vs. UC San Diego
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 9, University of California San Diego, 21
Record: Bearcats 4-7, 0-0 WWPA | Tritons 15-5, 0-0 Big West
HOW IT HAPPENED
Looking for their first official win in their West Coast trip, McKendree started out soling against the ranked Tritons as defending WWPA Player of the Week and junior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France), along with senior utility James Ramey (St. Louis, Mo.), chipped in the game's first two goals. UC San Diego responded with a quick 3-0 spurt to take their first lead of the night, but junior center defender Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) snuck one in with 26 seconds remaining to tie the game at three at the end of period number one.
To start the second quarter, UC San Diego converted on another three straight scores, in trying two separate from the Bearcats, but Le Goff, Robertson, and sophomore utility Joshua Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) enacted a 3-1 run to keep the match in contention. From then on, it was all Tritons the rest of the way, paving their way to avoid a acare from the Bearcats, 21-9.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Le Goff and Robertson each recorded a hat-trick with three goals as the former earned a drawn exlusion and two steals while the latter picked up a pair of drawn exclusions.
• Gibson, Ramey, and freshman attacker Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) all rounded out with a goal scored each.
• Graduate goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) played in all 32 minutes of the game and finished with 11 saves and a trio of takeaways.
GAME TWO vs. Cal Baptist
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 9, California Baptist University 21
Record: Bearcats 4-8, 0-0 WWPA | Lancers 13-7, 0-0 WCC
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a slower start in the second game of the tournament for the Bearcats, as Cal Baptist notched the first six scoring possessions of the game until Gibson stopped the bleeding for his team and finally got on the board with 26 ticks remaining in the first period. Robertson would make his mark again in the early stages of the second quarter, where he found the net on back-to-back tries.
After a three-goal run by Cal Baptist, Robertson, along with junior attacker Rowan Daughtrey (Commerce City, Colo.) and senior utility Riccardo Vettore (Padua, Italy) came together to form a 3-3 run to respond and cut their deficit to seven. The Lancers would tack on six straight from immediately after that point to expand their lead immensely.
Daughtry, freshman center Joaquin Vazquez (Chicago, Ill.), and senior attacker Kris Eyolfson (Winnipeg, Canada) unified to find the back of the net three more times, but it would be a little too late as they would fall to Cal Baptist in the Gary Troyer Tournament, 9-21.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• For the second straight game, Robertson ended with a hat-trick of three scores, as he did so on 50% shooting.
• Daughtrey followed with a season-high two goals on three attempts (66.7%).
• Redshirt sophomore Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) concluded the match with 10 saves, plus a steal.
UP NEXT
McKendree will be back in action tomorrow, October 4th, as they conclude their West Coast trip and Gary Troyer Tournament with matchups against No.19/DIII No.1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges at 1:30 PM CT and later in the day against DIII No.5 Whittier College at 5:15 PM CT.
Both games will be provided with live stats via The FOSH, as only the CMS game will be broadcast live on FloSports.
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