BRIDGEPORT, W.V. – The women's water polo team split in the final day of the Salem Invitational in Bridgeport, West Virginia to also close out their regular season action, as the team handled Mercyhurst Universty after dropping their last conference contest to the host Salem University on Sunday, March 29th at The Bridge Sports Complex.
GAME ONE vs. Salem
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 2, Salem University 18
Record: Bearcats 8-17, 1-3 WWPA | Tigers 13-6, 4-0 WWPA
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a rough start to day two of the Invitational, where McKendree was only able to net two goals in the matchup against the hosting Salem.
After the Tigers drew first blood 29 seconds into the match, junior center Bella Morquecho (Chicago, Ill.) fired one in straight on to tie the game up at one a piece.
Salem would go on to drop in 12 unanswered goals leading into the third quarter, until senior attacker Dylan Murphy (Carlsbad, Calif.) converted on the power play opportunity to give the Bearcats a second goal before the Tigers rattled off five more to pull off the 18-2 conference win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Morquecho and Murphy scored McKendree's only goals in the game, as both shot 50.0% on the net while Murphy contributed an assist as well.
• Freshman goalkeeper Delaney Judkins (La Grange, Ill.) played the whole 32:00 minutes in the cage and tallied seven saves.
GAME TWO vs. Mercyhurst
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 15, Mercyhurst University 9
Record: Bearcats 9-17, 1-3 WWPA | Lakers 5-16, 1-6 CWPA
HOW IT HAPPENED
McKendree turned the tide after an uncharacteristic outing against Salem. They started off their game against Mercyhurst with four straight goals, as Morquecho already got her sixth to go into the cage in the Invitational while senior attacker Joey Rebelo (Montreal, Québec, Canada) notched her first two goals of the event within that span. The Lakers responded with a 4-1 run that bled into the midst of the second quarter of action, but freshman utility Charlie Monroe (The Woodlands, Texas) kept her squad afloat with a made penalty shot.
Already up by one, the Bearcats extended their lead to three off a pair of goals via Murphy and junior attacker Mikayla Brown (Concord, Calif.), but a five-meter penalty drawn by the Lakers closed their gap to within two as both teams headed into halftime.
After Mercyhurst began the second half of play with a penalty goal, McKendree made a huge 5-0 spurt to take a 12-6 lead behind back-to-back scoring possessions by the sophomore attacker Kaitlyn Goins (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) for her ninth and 10th goals of the season, while the other sophomore attacker Maisie Mattocks (Shutesbury, Mass.) got a shot to sail with one second left to go in the third period.
A 3-1 flurry by the opposition brought the Lakers to within four, but two successful man-up situations scored by junior attacker Emma Dore (Pomona, Calif.) and sophomore utility Adrienne Densham (Grand Blanc, Mich.) ceased all hopes for a comeback, as the Bearcats would pull away with their first win of the Salem Invitational 15-9.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Mattocks, Rebelo, Goins, and Morquecho each finished with two goals, as Rebelo tacked on two assists to her stat line.
• Dore, Murphy, Brown, Densham, Monroe, Jazmine Sandoval, and Hailey Munoz all had contributed one goal in the match, with Murphy dishing out a trio of assists and a steal.
• Freshman goalkeeper Daisy Wetherholt (Malibu, Calif.) put up a season-high 12 saves, plus a takeaway, and an assist in 32:00 minutes guarding the cage.
• McKendree now holds a 10-9 all-time series lead over Mercyhurst.
UP NEXT
Next for McKendree women's water polo is postseason play at the WWPA Championships, which they will take a week off to prepare for, and will be held at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center on the campus of Concordia University Irvine from April 10th to 12th in Irvine, California.
All games in the tournament will be streamed for free live and on demand on the WWPA Network. Live stats will be provided to the public for all four games via The FOSH. Tickets can be purchased at cuigoldeneagles.com.
Matchups and seedings for the postseason event will be announced later after all WWPA conference contests have been played. The winner of the championships will earn an automatic bid into the National Collegiate Water Polo Championships in La Jolla, California from April 22nd-26th at the Canyonview Aquatic Center
Make sure to keep up with McKendree University Water Polo on Instagram, X (Twitter), and TikTok. #NCAAwaterpolo
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