CLAREMONT, Calif. – The women's water polo team wrapped up their time in California with a 1-3 mark in the Convergence Tournament in Claremont at the Haldeman Pool by defeating the University of Redlands 17-5, amongst falling against some tough competition from the West Coast over the weekend.
GAME ONE vs. Azusa Pacific
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 12, Azusa Pacific University 17
Record: Bearcats 4-11, 0-0 WWPA | Cougars 13-7, 0-3 GCC
HOW IT HAPPENED
APU started things off with a 3-1 spurt against the Bearcats, as leading scorer Bella Morquecho (Chicago, Ill.) was in on her squad's first of the game. Much similar to her matches in the CSUN Mini Invite the day prior, senior attacker Joey Rebelo (Montreal, Québec, Canada) struck in a goal with under a minute remaining in the first period to be down by just one to the Cougars.
The second quarter of action was all back-and-forth between the two teams, but Shanelle Márquez (Madrid, Spain) took it upon herself to keep her squad above water. The junior attacker scores all three of McKendree's goals in the period, with a pair of them thanks to a man-up situation where she would take advantage of with the Bearcats still trailing 5-8 at halftime.
The pace picked up in quarter number three with 11 combined scoring possessions between the two sides, as junior utility Hailey Munoz (Murrieta, Calif.) notched herself a hat-trick in the period with the help of Morquecho and Rebelo each tabbing one in for a total of five with the deficit at four for the team in purple and gold.
Rebelo would join Márquez and Munoz by scoring her third goal of the game to open up the final period of play, but the Cougars would not give up any more than that, as APU swam away with the 17-12 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Márquez led the Bearcats with four goals on five shot attempts (80.0%), plus stuffing the stat sheet with an assist, a field block, and two drawn exclusions.
• Rebelo and Munoz each finished with a hat-trick of three goals each, with both also tabbing a steal on the defensive end.
• Morquecho collected the remaining pair of goals for her team, plus one steal.
• McKendree outshot APU 29-26.
• The Bearcats assisted on nine of their 12 goals (75.0%).
GAME TWO vs. Redlands
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 17, University of Redlands 5
Record: Bearcats 5-11, 0-0 WWPA | Bulldogs 2-12, 1-3 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
McKendree came out with force to open the match on a 6-0 spurt with freshman utility Charlie Monroe (The Woodlands, Texas) putting in two of such with one of them coming via a power play opportunity as the Bearcats held the Bulldogs scoreless throughout the entire first period.
The two sides then started going at it once the second quarter of action began, as alternating goals came to be where Monroe would deposit her third goal of the contest at the three-minute mark of the period to give her a first hat-trick in her collegiate career. Senior attacker Dylan Murphy (Carlsbad, Calif.) registered her second goal of the game within the span as the McKendree lead would be at five with under two to go in the third period.
It was all Bearcats the rest of the way, ending the game on an 8-1 spurt thanks to a pair of goals each from Márquez and sophomore attackers Maisie Mattocks (Shutesbury, Mass.) and Kaitlyn Goins (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) to pull off the commanding 17-5 win over Redlands.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Márquez and Monroe each tabbed a hat-trick of three goals, with both contributing an assist and a steal, as the latter drawing four exclusions.
• Murphy, Mattocks, Rebelo, and Goins dropped in a pair each.
• Rebelo, Murphy, and senior attacker Jazmine Sandoval (Westminster, Calif.) all concluded with a trio of assists.
• Freshman goalkeeper Daisy Wetherholt (Malibu, Calif.) played the whole 32:00 minutes in the cage and came away with eight saves to go with a steal, plus an assist to supplement the offense.
• McKendree outshot Redlands 40-19.
• The Bearcats assisted 15 of their 17 goals.
• McKendree held the advantage in steals 13-6.
GAME THREE vs. Concordia Irvine
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 9, Concordia University Irvine 11
Record: Bearcats 5-12, 0-0 WWPA | Golden Eagles 10-8, 0-1 WWPA
HOW IT HAPPENED
Márquez struck first into the net off a five-meter penalty shot to give her a 10th goal of the weekend, but was immediately responded to by a scoring passion by the CUI offense 17 seconds after. With kick-outs coming in large quantities, junior attacker Mikayla Brown (Concord, Calif.) made good use of a man-up advantage to take an early 2-1 lead.
The Golden Eagles would subsequently find their rhythm by depositing four unanswered to take a three-point edge midway through the second quarter of action. Another power play conversion, this time by Rebelo to put the Bearcats back on track, but still trailing in the non-conference bout 3-6 at halftime.
CUI would follow by going on a 5-1 spurt that bled into the first few minutes of the final period of play as Rebelo got a second man-up goal to sink in for her squad. Morquecho started to come alive late with notching two straight goals for McKendree to cut the deficit to just four with 1:36 remaining in regulation.
After the Golden Eagles found the back of the net with 80 seconds remaining, the Bearcats came roaring back with a few more scoring possessions that saw Márquez fire one in as an answer, while Sandoval making do on a penalty shot with 42 seconds left. But it would not be enough as Rebelo converted off a power play with one second left to come close to a comeback, falling to CUI 9-11.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Rebelo registered her fifth hat-trick of the season with three goals to go with an assist, a drawn exclusion, and a field block.
• Márquez and Morquecho each put in a pair in the outing with four combined exclusions drawn, as the former had an assist and four steals.
• Sandoval and Brown each tabbed one goal with three takeaways between the two.
• Freshman goalkeeper Delaney Judkins (La Grange, Calif.) participated in all 32:00 minutes and finished with nine saves.
• McKendree assisted on six of their nine goals.
• With her scoring performance, Márquez has now tallied 100 goals in her career.
GAME FOUR vs. Pomona-Pitzer
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 12, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 21
Record: Bearcats 5-13, 0-0 WWPA | Sagehens 9-10, 4-0 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Márquez drew the penalty foul on the Sagehens less than 30 seconds into play, to which she was able to connect from the subsequent free shot. But Pomona-Pitzer responded without a hitch ans score seven straight over the next four and a half minutes.
The Sagehens continued to pile it into the cage in the second quarter, outscoring the Bearcats 6-1 with Munoz tabbing in the lone goal for her squad off a man-up opportunity.
Morquecho fired one inside to start the second half of action, as Murphy snuck her way through the defense and made a score with just nine seconds remaining in the third period, with the deficit looming at 14.
McKendree would turn up the intensity in the final eight minutes of the game as they would outscore Pomona-Pitzer 7-2 behind three more goals from Morquecho, along with Rebelo and Monroe each contributing a pair in that span. However, it would not be enough as the nationally-ranked Sagehens would pull away with the 21-12 victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Morquecho registered four goals in the game on nine shot attempts while collecting a steal.
• Rebelo, Munoz, and Monroe each dropped in two goals in the contest, as Rebelo had a pair of assists, a steal, and a field block, while Monroe finished with three exclusions drawn and a field block.
• Márquez and Murphy each had one goal in the game.
UP NEXT
After the eventful week in sunny California, the team will immediately head East to Erie, Pennsylvania to begin conference play at the WWPA Erie Classic on the campus of Gannon University on March 14th and 15th.
There, the Bearcats will face Salem University at 8:00 AM CT and will follow with Penn State Behrend at 1:00 PM CT on Saturday. Then, they will conclude with the host Gannon early at 7:00 AM CT ad old WWPA-foe Mercyhurst University at 10:00 AM CT.
All games can be watched for free live and on demand on the WWPA Network, as live stats will also be provided to the public via The FOSH.
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