LEBANON, Ill. – The men's water polo team makes their seasonal home debut this weekend as they look to host the program's inaugural Meet Me in St. Louis Invitational, held at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex in O'Fallon, Illinois, on Saturday, October 10th and Sunday, October 11th. 

The Bearcats will start off Saturday with an exhibition bout against the Mounties of Mt. San Antonio College at 12:30 PM CT and will be back in the pool four hours later at 4:30 PM CT versus DIII No.4 Johns Hopkins University. On day two Sunday, McKendree begins with another exhibition, this time going head-to-head with Saddleback College at 10:40 AM CT, and will wrap up the show with DIII RV Augustana College at 2:40 PM CT. 

Senior recognitions will take place at 4:15 PM CT on the pool deck prior to the Johns Hopkins match. 

All contests will be streamed live and on-demand for free on the WWPA Network, with live stats also provided for every game via The FOSH. Fans are encouraged to check the invite's Tournament Central page for the event schedule, tickets, game programs, and other general information. 

TIME FOR SOME WEST COAST CLASSICS 

The team picked up a pair of wins, plus one exhibition victory, in their four-day-eight-game slate under the bright and sunny skies of California over the week. The same day they landed in the West Coast, the Bearcats went straight to work but fell to T-No.20 California State University, Fullerton [7-19]. They started to rebound with an exhibition win against Cuesta College [18-17] after losing to T-No.20 Concordia University Irvine [11-17] and No.14 Loyola Marymount University [7-23] all in the same day. The latter half of the trip came within the annual Gary Troyer Tournament, where in day one they beat both DIII No.8 Occidental College [19-7] and DIII No.9 University of La Verne [19-17]. Day two, and the final day of the venture came with setbacks to DIII No.6 California Lutheran University [11-18] and DIII No.2 University of Redlands [12-13] in overtime. 

CALIFORNIA... KNOWS HOW TO PARTY 

In counted-only games (excluding the Cuesta match), sophomore Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) led the offensive charge with 28 goals and 10 assists for 38 points, plus 14 drawn exclusions, eight steals, and three field blocks. Senior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) followed suit with 34 points of 16 goals and 18 assists, with 13 exclusions drawn, 14 field blocks, and four takeaways. Senior center Yannick Robertson powered in 26 goals, along with 13 steals. Graduate goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) in four games finished with 61 saves on a .521 percentage, plus 11 steals and an assist. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) tallied 20 saves on a .256 percentage with seven steals and an assist. 

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE! 

The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) has announced its weekly honors on Wednesday, October 7th, as McKendree senior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) was selected as the league's Defensive Player of the Week. One of McKendree's accustomed leaders on the offensive end delivered at the same level on the defensive end of the waters, as he totaled 14 field blocks and four steals, while also supplementing the offense with 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points on 37.2% shooting and drawing 13 exclusions. He led his team to two victories over Division III top 10 opponents in a rugged trip out in California. This is the third WWPA Player of the Week award for Le Goff in his second year with the Bearcat program, as he previously captured the other two for his offensive output. 

Le Goff currently leads the team this season in assists (33) and field blocks (19). He is top-10 in the WWPA in goals (9th – 39), assists (T-4th – 33), points (6th – 72), field blocks (1st – 19), goals per game (7th – 2.3), assists per game (T-3rd – 1.9), points per game (4th – 4.2). 

TEAM TOPPERS 

• SHOTS – Alexandros Prokopis (91) 
• GOALS – Alexandros Prokopis (48) 
• ASSISTS – Armand Le Goff (33) 
• POINTS – Alexandros Prokopis (76) 
• SHOOTING % – Kevin Kehoe (58.3%) 
• DRAWN EXCLUSIONS – Alexandros Prokopis (27) 
• STEALS – Gennaro Pecoraro (26) 
• FIELD BLOCKS – Armand Le Goff (19) 
• SPRINTS WON – Emiliano Martinez (8) 
• SPRINT % – Nathan Weintraub (66.7%) 
• SAVES – Gennaro Pecoraro (126) 
• SAVE % – Gennaro Pecoraro (43.9%) 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After McKendree battles in their friendly confines, they will take a bye week to prepare for their first conference weekend at the WWPA West Virginia Showdown, hosted by Salem University. 

They will open with Gannon University on Saturday, October 24th at 1:30 PM CT, and then later against Mercyhurst University at 4:00 PM CT. Sunday =, October 25th will feature only one matchup for the team, as they take on Salem at 7:00 AM CT. 

All games are expected to be streamed live and on-demand for free on the WWPA Network, with live stats also provided for every game via The FOSH. 

TUNE IN-FO 

DATE	TIME (CT)	HOME (DARK) TEAM	AWAY (WHITE) TEAM	LIVE STATS	WATCH LIVE
10/10/26	12:30 PM	McKendree	Mt. SAC	STATS	WATCH
10/10/26	4:30 PM	McKendree	Johns Hopkins	STATS	WATCH
10/11/26	10:40 AM	McKendree	Saddleback	STATS	WATCH
10/11/26	2:40 PM	McKendree	Augustana	STATS	WATCH

---

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

For more updates and information on Bearcat Athletics, please continue to visit McKBearcats.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 
#BearcatsUnleashed