ERIE, Pa. – The men's water polo team concluded day one of the annual WWPA Erie Classic, hosted by Gannon University, as they split their two matches on the day with a setback to Salem University in WWPA play and later a victory against old league-foe Mercyhurst University at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
GAME ONE vs. Salem
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 13, Salem University 14
Record: Bearcats 9-14, 1-2 WWPA | Tigers 10-12, 3-1 WWPA
HOW IT HAPPENED
The last conference weekend prior to the WWPA Championships had it all on the table as three teams would vie for seeding spots in the tournament. That held true in the McKendree-Salem matchup early Saturday morning. It was a seesaw affair all through the first quarter between the two programs as the ball sailed between both nets throughout and the Bearcats taking the 4-3 edge.
Salem utilized a three-goal spurt to open up the second period of play and take their first lead of the match. Yet, the Bearcats would be quick to respond with a 3-0 output of their own thanks to senior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) notching a couple within the spurt to give him hat-trick status, along with junior utility Tristan Grimett (Johannesburg, South Africa) in on the other.
Le Goff continued his prowess moments later after he forced in a shot off a rebound taken by senior center Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) to tie it at eight all. An outlet pass by graduate goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) found sophomore attacker Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) on the run to help retake the lead.
Another 3-and-0 spurt by McKendree from the trio of Robertson, Grimett, and Le Goff gave their team a huge two-point advantage with 3:45 to go in the game.
A feed into the center by the Tigers' offense with under a minute, tied the game at 13 apiece, as straight-shot by Salem's Marko Jovanovic put his squad ahead. The Bearcats were given one more shot to make it even, but failed to get a shot off in light of the tight opposing defensive setup and fell 13-14.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Le Goff led the offensive output with five goals and an assist for six points, while taking away four steals and drawing an exclusion.
• Robertson earned the hat trick of three goals, plus an assist and collected a pair of steals and drawn exclusions.
• Prokopis and Grimett each finished with two goals apiece.
• Pecoraro tallied 15 saves while guarding the cage with two takeaways and a dished assist.
• McKendree shot 13-for-28 (46.4%) and went 2-2 on sprints.
• The Bearcats assisted on 11 of their 13 goals (84.6%)
GAME TWO vs. Mercyhurst
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 22, Mercyhurst University 17
Record: Bearcats 10-14, 1-2 WWPA | Lakers 3-25, 0-13 MAWPC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior utility Joshua Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) drew first blood in a matchup against an old WWPA-foe 34 seconds into action, as Robertson continued his momentum throughout the first half with three quick goals to his name.
Knotted up at five midway through the second quarter, McKendree turned the tide with four unanswered goals, with Prokopis contributing on a pair of the, as the Greek native chipped in a shot into the cage before time expired to lead 13-8 at the half.
The Bearcats kept their foot on the metal with a 6-2 run to begin the second half of play, with Prokopis still remaining hot converting another trio of successful shots to go, along with a penalty shot from Gibson and Le Goff's third goal of the game.
With the game trending largely in McKendree's favor, Head Coach Miguel Figueras gave some of his bench players some quality reps. Junior attacker Davion Nichols (Chicago, Ill.) scored two consecutive goals for his team, as senior attacker Nathan Weintraub (San Antonio, Texas) followed up 16 seconds later with a goal of his own prior to Mercyhurst rounding out the game with five straight scores, with the Bearcats winning 22-17.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Prokopis finished with a career-high eight goals on nine shot attempts (88.9%).
• Robertson followed the last game of a hat-trick with four goals in this outing on five shots with an assist.
• Le Goff also earned a hat-trick of three goals, with a pair of assists.
• Redshirt junior goalkeeper Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) ended the mat ch with two saves, one steal, and one assist.
• McKendree shot 22-for-31 (71.0%) and went 2-2 on sprints.
• The Bearcats assisted on 15 of their 22 goals (68.2%).
UP NEXT
McKendree will be back in action tomorrow on Sunday, November 8th as they face the host Gannon for rights to a two-seed in the East region for the upcoming WWPA Championships bracket. The match will have its first sprint at 8:30 AM CT inside the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
If the Bearcats win, they will clinch the two-seed and face the West three-seed Fresno Pacific University in the WWPA quarterfinals. Otherwise, if they drop to the Golden Knights, McKendree will match up against the West two-seed Biola University in the same round.
The game will be streamed live and on demand for free on the WWPA Network, with live stats also available via The FOSH.
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