LA JOLLA, Calif. – The men's water polo team went into a gauntlet over the weekend and came away short of expectations as they fell to all six opposing teams in the season-opening Triton Invitational from August 28th through 30th on the campus of the University of California San Diego in La Jolla.
GAME ONE vs. No.7 Long Beach State
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 9, Long Beach State University 28
Record: Bearcats 0-1, 0-0 WWPA | Beach 1-0, 0-0 Big West
HOW IT HAPPENED
McKendree's first action in the water was one to get their feet wet with each game presenting a harsh challenge. Senior center Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) gave his team their first goal of the season and the match 38 seconds in before LBSU sunk in seven straight of their own to round out the first quarter.
Both the junior utilities of Kevin Kehoe (Chicago, Ill.) and Joshua Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) had finally responded to the long opposing spurt with a pair of power-play shots, as sophomore attacker Alexandros Prokopis jumped on the bandwagon with one of his own. Shortly after Prokopis' scoring play, freshman utility, along with Gibson went back-to-back on scoring possessions.
Senior utility Rowan Daughtrey (Commerce City, Colo.) and freshman attacker Jacob Orr also made a couple of man-up goals, with Orr's going into the net as the third period time expired.
Daughtrey put in the Bearcats' only goal in the final quarter of play, with the Beach looming all over the McKendree defense.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Gibson and Daughtrey both led with two goals apiece, with the former collecting a drawn exclusion and a steal, while the latter received a steal and a field block.
• Prokopis, Robertson, Kehoe, King, and Orr all ended with one goal to each.
• Graduate goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) played in all 32 minutes and had eight saves and a pair of steals.
GAME TWO vs. No.15 UC Santa Barbara
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 11, University of California, Santa Barbara 25
Record: Bearcats 0-2, 0-0 WWPA | Gauchos 2-0, 0-0 Big West
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bearcats got off to a very solid start by leading the Gauchos 4-2 five minutes into action, thanks to senior attacker and former All-American Armond Le Goff (Reims, France) contributing on half of the four for his team. Prokopis snuck in his second of the game with under a minute left in period number one, but UCSB was able to tie it up at five as the quarter concluded.
Four mor straight by UCSB gave themselves a cushion to where Prokopis would capture the early hat-trick to halt the run, with senior attacker Emiliano Martinez (Mexico City, Mexico) following up with a successful shot to trail by just two.
The Bearcats would start to lose their grip as they allowed the Gauchos to enact a 12-1 run that bled into the fourth period, putting the game out of reach. Sophomore center Tonny Simon (Nassau, Bahamas) too earned a hat trick in the final 4:29 of play, with th the last of the bunch coming at the horn.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Prokopis and Simon both got a hat-trick, as for Simon it being his first while drawing two exclusions while Prokopis baited a kick-out plus two assists.
• Le Goff followed suit with two goals and also a pair of drawn exclusions
• Redshirt junior goalkeeper Gavin Haight (Jenison, Mich.) tabbed five saves and two steals in all 32 minutes of action.
GAME THREE vs. No.8 Pepperdine
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 7, Pepperdine University 23
Record: Bearcats 0-3, 0-0 WWPA | Waves 1-0, 0-0 WCC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Gibson and Robertson would tag-team the offensive output for McKendree, as the former made three goals while his running mate in Robertson tacked on two for himself with the Waves holding onto an 11-5 lead heading into halftime.
A quick scoring motion by the newcomer Tristan Grimett (Johannesburg, South Africa) gave him his first goal as a Bearcat, before Pepperdine made eight straight on their end of the pool to push their lead to 14.
Freshman utility Ben Meier (Aurora, Ill.) made his first goal of his career off a man-up opportunity in the fourth period, as McKendree had no match for the Waves style of play.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Gibson became the third Bearcat to earn a hat-trick in the Triton Invitational after registering three goals to go with a field block and a drawn exclusion.
• Robertson had two goals in the contest, plus a drawn exclusion and a steal.
• Pecoraro had nine saves and a steal in the setback.
GAME FOUR vs. No.2 Southern California
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 5, University of Southern California 30
Record: Bearcats 0-4, 0-0 WWPA | Trojans 2-0, 0-0 MPSF
HOW IT HAPPENED
USC wasted no time gaining control of the matchup, as they opened up the Bearcats' fourth game with a 12-1 lead with Gibson scoring the lone goal in the thread.
Robertson was finally able to get McKendree their second shot to sail end, which happened two minutes into the second half of play via a power-play, as Simon followed with his fourth goal of the invite five minutes after.
The game ended the way it started, with the Trojans capping off the lopsided victory on an 11-1 spurt, while Gibson once again contributed a score during the run.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Gibson led the group with two goals with a steal and two field blocks on the defensive end.
• Le Goff, Robertson, and Simon contributed one goal each.
• Haight and Pecoraro split the time evenly at 16 minutes apiece, with the former tallying three saves, while the latter had six saves and a takeaway
GAME FIVE vs. DIII RV La Verne
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 12, University of La Verne 13
Record: Bearcats 0-5, 0-0 WWPA | Waves 2-1, 0-0 SCIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
A slow start troubled McKendree out of the gates as they faced the Leopards out of the SCIAC, who led 5-1 in the early minutes of play with Le Goff registering the Bearcats' first goal. Following the run, McKendree's Prokopis caught fire by finding the back of the net three consecutive times in the final two minutes of the second quarter to be behind La Verne by only one point.
The sporadic turn of events continued with La Verne tabbing the next three goals, all of which came via power-play opportunities. McKendree answered with another three straight, with the first two coming from Gibson, along with one from sophomore attacker Jayden Del Campo (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) tailing the spurt with his initial goal of the season.
Three more man-up scoring possessions for Prokopis kept the Bearcats within reach with a shot sailing in with six ticks remaining in the third period and the other two in the early moments of the fourth. After the Leopards took the two-point lead 30 seconds later, Robertson was able to tie the game up after powering in a couple more power-play shot attempts, with the second of which with 28 seconds remaining in crunch time.
In a last-chance attempt by the Leopards, with time quickly winding down, their freshman attacker and La Verne, California native Zack Montoya scored a game-winning goal at the buzzer to give the Bearcats a heartbreaking 12-13 loss.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Prokopis led the charge with six goals on nine shot attempts (66.7%), while drawing a game-high five drawn exclusions, plus an assist.
• Both Gibson and Robertson supplemented with two goals, with the former tallying an assist and a drawn exclusion, while the latter drew three kick-outs.
• Haight played 15 minutes and 15 seconds and came away with seven saves and two steals. Pecoraro also had seven saves in 16:45 of play.
GAME SIX vs. No.12 UC San Diego
BOX SCORE
Score: McKendree University 7, University of California San Diego 21
Record: Bearcats 0-6, 0-0 WWPA | Waves 4-1, 0-0 Big West
HOW IT HAPPENED
McKendree presented very little of an offensive output in their final game of the invite, as UCSD jumped out with straight dominance and leading the Bearcats 14-1 up until two minutes into the third quarter. Gibson was once again the lone squad member on the board in the scenario, this time with the score coming off a penalty shot.
Robertson and Le Goff scored two goals in a more balanced third period, despite still being down by large. Kehoe was also able to sneak one in the quarter as well with a power-play conversion with two seconds left.
Freshman utility Jonas King (Oviedo, Fla.) tabbed his second goal in the season opening event midway through the final quarter.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Le Goff and Robertson each finished with two goals, as Armand had one assist and three takeaways, as Yannick drew three exclusions and had one steal.
• Gibson, Kehoe, and King all rounded out with one goal each.
• Haight guarded the cage all 32 minutes and came away with seven saves and a steal.
UP NEXT
McKendree will be back in action next weekend on September 5th and 6th, as they take part in the W&J Invitational on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
There, the Bearcats will face Michigan State University's club team in an exhibition format along with their first-ever meeting with Wheaton College (Mass.) on Saturday. On Sunday, they will play Connecticut College and then Penn State Behrend.
Game coverage, including live streaming, live stats, and tickets, will be publicized in the coming days over at mckbearcats.com.
Make sure to keep up with McKendree University Water Polo on X (Twitter) and Instagram. #NCAAwaterpolo
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