LEBANON, Ill. – The men's water polo team will be presented with arguably its toughest weekend slate in the program's history, as they will face five nationally top 15 opponents at the Triton Invitational from Friday, August 28th through Sunday, August 30th on the campus of the University of California San Diego. 

The event will be split into two pools within the Canyonview Aquatics Center in La Jolla over the three-day span. Day one on Friday will feature McKendree taking on No.7 Long Beach State University and No.15 University of California, Santa Barbara while day two on Saturday will have them going head-to-head with No.8 Pepperdine University and No.2 University of Southern California. The Bearcats will vie against DIII RV University of La Verne and the host No.12 UC San Diego on the final day on Sunday. Five of the six games will take place in the Triton Pool with, only the La Verne matchup to be played in the Canyonview Pool. 

All contests will be streamed live and on-demand with a subscription purchase on Overnght. Live stats will only be provided for the Bearcats' contest versus UCSD, as all six games will have a box score after the completion of each match. A tournament central for the Triton Invitational can be found HERE regarding tickets and schedule of events. 

BACK FOR MORE 

This will mark year number two of the Miguel Figueras era, as he led last year's team to an 11-13 overall record with a competitive non-conference slate, while going 2-2 in WWPA play. He brings back 15 returners from last year's squad, including seven seniors and six starters, to go with eight fresh newcomers. 

Leading the charge will be senior attacker Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) after collecting First Team ACWPC All-American honors last season while leading the team in points (126), goals (85), assists (41), and field blocks (21). The Frenchman also was ranked second in the WWPA in field blocks and third in total points and points per game (3.5). 

Supplementing the offense are sophomore attacker Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) and senior center Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago). The former earned WWPA All-Conference honorable mention in his freshman campaign in 2025 and was a Swiss Army Knife in the pool with 75 points of 43 goals and 32 assists to go with 33 steals and 27 drawn exclusions. The latter of Robertson, a three-time Second Team All-WWPA and a former All-American Honorable Mention in 2024 ended last season with 64 goals, as he led the squad in shooting percentage (58.7%) and exclusions drawn (44). 

The two-headed dragon of redshirt junior Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) and graduate Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) will split the cage time evenly once again. Pecoraro led the pair last season with 139 total saves on a .424 save percentage, while Haight contributed 96 saves on 36.4%. 

SOON, WE WILL KNOW OUR SPOT 

The WWPA Preseason Coaches' Poll is set to be announced on Wednesday, August 26th by the league office. McKendree was picked to finish fifth last year, as they await to see what year number four in the conference has in store for them in just a couple of days. 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After the Triton Invitational, the Bearcats will head to the opposite side of the U.S. map the very next week for the W&J Invitational on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College.  

Day one will consist of matches against Michigan State University's club team for an exhibition match and then the program's first-ever meeting with Wheaton College (Mass.) on Saturday, September 5th. The next day, on Sunday, September 6th, McKendree will face Connecticut College and end by facing Penn State Behrend. 

Game coverage, including live stream, stats, and tickets, is to be determined and will be publicized accordingly in the coming days.  

TUNE IN-FO 

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

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