CALIFORNIA – The men's water polo team went even in the latter half of their West Coast venture at the Gary Troyer Tournament, where they went unblemished in Los Angeles and blanked in Claremont at the two event sites. McKendree beat both DIII No.8 Occidental College 19-7 and DIII No.9 University of La Verne 19-17 on day one before falling to both DIII No.6 California Lutheran University 11-18 and DIII No.2 University of Redlands 12-13 in overtime.
GAME ONE vs. DIII No.8 Occidental
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 19, Occidental College 7
Record: Bearcats 5-9, 0-0 WWPA | Tigers 4-9, 0-1 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
McKendree wasted no time building a substantial lead as senior center Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) and sophomore attacker Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) each earned a hat-trick in the first half of action, leading 10-2.
Prokopis continued his strive immediately into the third period with three more goals sailing in to bring him up to seven in the afternoon. Robertson was able to sling in his fourth of the game as senior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) got himself on the hat-trick board with a pair in the midst of the Bearcats' 7-1 run.
While offense seemed to trickle down in the final quarter, Robertson did not let up, and chipped in two more for his squad. Fellow center, sophomore Tonny Simon (Nassau, Bahamas) got his first goal in a little over a month to cap it off in a deciding 19-7 win over the Tigers.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Prokopis dropped in a career-high seven goals on eight attempts (87.5%).
• Robertson followed suit with six goals on eight tries (75.0%), while rounding out with an assist, two drawn exclusions, a steal, and one field block
• Le Goff gave McKendree their third hat-trick of three goals plus a trio of assists for six points, along with three exclusions drawn, one takeaway, and one block.
• Graduate goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) tallied a career-high 21 saves in the win while snatching two steals in the process. It is the most by any player since Jimmy Cronin had 23 against California State University, Fullerton on September 29th, 2023.
• McKendree shot 19-for-34 (55.9%) and went 2-2 on sprints.
GAME TWO vs. DIII No.9 La Verne
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 19, University of La Verne 17
Record: Bearcats 6-9, 0-0 WWPA | Leopards 4-5, 0-2 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bearcats once again made an impressive start to the game, this time going up 5-1 in the early goings against La Verne with the usual suspects of Robertson, Prokopis, and Le Goff each finding the back of the net, along with senior attacker Emiliano Martinez (Mexico City, Mexico).
A 4-1 response by the Leopards cut the McKendree lead to just one, but the trio of Prokopis, Le Goff, and Robertson, with the addition of junior utility Tristan Grimett (J Johannesburg, South Africa), gave the Bearcats another 5-1 spurt before La Verne connected on two in the final 35 seconds of the half with McKendree holding on by three.
The intensity would surely turn up in half number two, with the Leopards knotting up the score at 14 apiece as both teams enter the fourth quarter. A power play goal by freshman utility Jonas King (Oviedo, Fla.) and a successful shot by junior utility Kevin Kehoe (Chicago, Ill.) put the Bearcats back up by a pair. A five-meter penalty shot conversion by La Verne cut their deficit back to one, but Le Goff and Robertson proved to be too much for the opposition by hitting the dagger with two more goals scored to win 19-17.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Robertson led the charge with seven goals and a trio of takeaways.
• Prokopis and Le Goff also earned hat-tricks, with the former notching four goals, one assist, three drawn exclusions, two steals, and one field block. The latter had three goals with a McKendree-high six assists, plus one each of a steal, block, and drawn kick-out.
• Redshirt junior goalkeeper Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) came away with seven saves, three takeaways, and dished an assist in the match.
• McKendree shot 19-for-33 (57.6%) and went 3-1 on sprints.
• Bearcats assisted on 13 of their 19 goals (68.4%) of their goals.
GAME THREE vs. DIII No.6 California Lutheran
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 11, California University Lutheran 18
Record: Bearcats 6-10, 0-0 WWPA | Kingsmen 6-9, 1-1 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Le Goff and Prokopis each gave McKendree two of the squad's first four goals, giving them a one-point edge midway through the first quarter. Yet, Cal Lutheran was quick to answer with an 8-2 run that bled into the second period.
Prokopis and Robertson would sink in their fourth and second respective goals of the match to halt the opposing output, but the Kingsmen would get back on track with a five-goal spurt to extend the spread by eight.
Well into the fourth period of play with a mountain to climb, the Bearcats were able to muster up three more shots to twine the net via Robertson, Le Goff, and freshman utility Paxton Miller (Longwood, Fla.), and fall short 11-18.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Prokopis led with four goals and assist, plus two drawn exclusions and a steal.
• Le Goff and Robertson also did a solid three goals each with the former tacking on a pair of assists, while the latter drawing three kickouts taking away a steal
• Haight saved the ball seven times and stole the ball once.
• McKendree shot 11-for-27 (40.7%) and went 2-2 on sprints.
• Bearcats assisted on six of their 11 goals (54.5%) of their goals.
GAME FOUR vs. DIII No.2 Redlands
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 12, University of Redlands 13 (OT)
Record: Bearcats 6-11, 0-0 WWPA | Bulldogs 5-10, 1-1 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Prokopis would once again set the tone early for his Bearcats as they go up against the number two team in all of Division II, where the Greek native powered in three of his team's first four goals in the first period to take a 4-1 advantage.
Robertson would get back into the fold in quarter number two with two made goals with Prokopis tabbed yet another one alongside Kehoe for the 8-6 lead at the half.
The two sides would go back and forth in the next quarter and a half of play and neither pulling away from the other with McKendree still up by three. Then, Redlands would make a rallying comeback and of three straight goals, including a converted penalty shot by Nick Davidson with seven seconds left on the clock to send the game into overtime for the first time this season for the Bearcats.
Both team ramped up their defense in extra time, but it was Davidson again who gave the Bulldogs a heroic play and scored the only goal for either side in the first overtime period at the 2:39 mark, and gave them the 13-12 win over McKendree.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Prokopis notched a double-hat-trick of six goals to go along with two assists, three exclusions drawn, two takeaways, and a field block.
• Robertson also finished with a hat-trick of three goals while picking up two steals and a pair of drawn exclusions.
• Le Goff had two goals and three assists for five points, plus a couple of field blocks.
• Pecoraro collected 17 saves in all 38 minutes played, plus a steal.
• McKendree shot 12-for-32 (37.5%) and went 2-4 on sprints.
• Bearcats assisted on 8 of their 12 goals (66.7%) of their goals.
UP NEXT
McKendree will return home to the friendly confines of the McKendree Metro Rec Plex for the first time all season, as they will host the inaugural Meet Me in St. Louis Invitational on Saturday, October 10th and Sunday, October 11th in O'Fallon, Illinois.
All games in the event will be streamed live and on demand for free on the WWPA Network, with live stats also available for all 12 matches.
Make sure to keep up with McKendree University Water Polo on X (Twitter) and Instagram. #NCAAwaterpolo
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