LEBANON, Ill. – The men's water polo team will get their shot to take the No.1 seed in the upcoming WWPA Championships later in the month, as they close our regular season competition at the annual WWPA Erie Classic, hosted by Gannon University at the Hagerty Family Events Center November 7th and 8th in Erie, Pennsylvania. 

The Bearcats will see the same trio opponents they faced in their last outing at the WWPA West Virginia Showdown, as they will dive into the event with a second consecutive matchup against Salem University on Saturday at 8:00 AM CT, and will take on former WWPA Member Mercyhurst University at 1:45 PM CT. McKendree will close out the Classic on Sunday against the host, Gannon, at 8:30 AM CT. 

All contests, except for the Mercyhurst game, can be streamed live and on-demand for free on the WWPA Network, with live stats provided for every game via The FOSH. 

THE SHAKEUP 

This week's WWPA Erie Classic, as like in previous years, presents various scenarios for how the conference tournament bracket will be determined. 

In short, for McKendree to get the No.1 seed in the East region, they will need to beat all three of their opponents this weekend, especially Salem and Gannon. If they beat Gannon but fall to Salem, or all three East teams finish their conference mark at 2-2, it will have to come down to common non-conference opponents the teams have played this season. 

IT ALL WENT DOWN AT THE SHOWDOWN 

The team began conference play on October 24th and 25th at the newly formed WWPA West Virginia Showdown  where they came away with two wins and a setback at The Bridge Sports Complex in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Day one consisted of McKendree pulling off wins against Gannon University [18-17] after holding off a late push by the Golden Knights offense in the first WWPA game for the Bearcats, as they cruised past Mercyhurst University [22-16] later in the day in a full team effort. On Sunday for day two, the Bearcats only faced the host Salem University, where they led by one in the final four minutes of play, but a 3-0 run by the Tigers outdueled McKendree [10-12] in the second conference bout. 

ALL-NATURAL MOUNTAINEERS 

Sophomore attacker Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) led the charge offensively with 12 goals and five assists for 17 points on 66.7% shooting, plus three steals. Senior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) tabbed seven goals and nine assists for 16 points, while drawing four exclusions, taking four steals, and swatting four field blocks. Junior utility Tristan Grimett (Johannesburg, South Africa) had four goals and six assists, as senior utility Rowan Daughtrey (Commerce City, Colo.) recorded seven goals, two steals, and three field blocks. Graduate Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) came away with 32 saves on the weekend on 52.5% with a 1-1 goalkeeping record to go with three steals and two assists, as fellow goalkeeper Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) earned a 1-0 record in the win over Mercyhurst and tallied 13 saves on 44.8%, plus an assist. 

THE ITALIAN STALLION 

The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) has announced its weekly honors on Wednesday, October 28th, with McKendree' Pecoraro earning the league's Defensive Player of the Week honors. It is the first weekly award for the graduate student out of Italy. He is the second Bearcat to earn Defensive Player of the Week this season, as it is the third overall in the current campaign for both offense and defense. The cage guardian made an impressive performance to begin conference play at the WWPA West Virginia Showdown this past weekend, where he had a 1-1 goalkeeping record with a combined 32 saves, three steals, and two assists on a 52.5 save percentage across his two games started. He had 15 saves and an assist in an 18-17 win, holding off a late push by Gannon University. Then, he had 17 saves, all three steals, and another dished assist in a late-game falter to the host Salem University. Pecoraro also played 30 against Mercyhurst University, but did not record any statistics. Pecoraro currently leads the team this season in saves (172), save percentage (45.0%), and steals (29). He is top-10 in the WWPA in steals (7th – 29), saves (2nd – 172), save percentage (T-1st – 45.0%), goals-against average (5th – 15.9), saves per game (1st – 11.5), and steals per game (3rd – 1.9). 

TEAM TOPPERS 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After the WWPA Erie Classic, McKendree will learn their fate for the upcoming WWPA Championships with the league's final results this weekend 

The tournament will run from November 20th through the 22nd with quarterfinals (and a bye day for the West No.1 seed) on Friday. Saturday will see the semifinals and the first day of a 5-7 place round robin take into account, as Sunday will hold the championship match, the 3rd place contest, and the final game of the 5-7 place round robin. Each team will play at least three matches. 

The winner out of the WWPA Championships will secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships from December 4th through 6th at the Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla, California. 

All games in the WWPA Championships are 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 

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

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