ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The men's water polo team has now won four straight regular-season games for the first time since 2022, in light of their compelling 15-8 victory over DIII No.10 Augustana College, held at the Anne Greve Lund Natatorium on Saturday, September 12th in Rock Island, Illinois.
Score: McKendree University 15, Augustana College 8
Record: Bearcats 4-6, 0-0 WWPA | Vikings 0-1, 0-0 MPSF
HOW IT HAPPENED
With tensions high as usual within the two sole NCAA water polo programs in the state of Illinois, the ninth matchup on record was expected to be yet another game that would go down to the wire, as rivalries usually do.
But it was not.
Senior center Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) got things rolling for McKendree with the first goal of the game 56 seconds in, while connecting another shot approximately three minutes after, as he and freshman utility Jonas King (Oviedo, Fla.) made a 3-1 first quarter lead.
Augustana notched the initial goal of the second period to trail McKendree's lead just by a hair, but utilities Joshua Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) and Rowan Daughtrey (Commerce City, Colo.) went back-to-back to go up by three before the Vikings kept it close again with two straight of their own.
A monumental turning point came in the back half of period number two, with the Bearcats picking up the heat with a 6-0 spurt that bled into the front-end of the second half, as Robertson tacking on two more goals to give him the hat-trick and attackers Armand Le Goff (Reims, France) and Alexandros Prokopis (Palaio Faliro, Greece) joining the fold with contributing two each from themselves.
With the Vikings trailing by a massive seven, they were able to dwindle it down to five after a pair sailed into the back of the net. However, no one was able to stop the freight-train Frenchman, who answered with three consecutive, plus a fourth minutes later for a personal 4-1 run in order to help seal the 15-8 win in Rock Island over their in-state rivals.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Le Goff led the charge offensively with a double-hat-trick of six goals on eight shots (75.0%) to go with two assists, two drawn exclusions, two field blocks, and a steal.
• Robertson followed Le Goff with four goals on six shots (66.7%), while stealing the ball twice.
• Prokopis had two goals and a team-high four assists, as Gibson, Daughtrey, and King each registered one scoring possession.
• Graduate goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro (Pesaro, Italy) manned the cage all 32 minutes and finished with a season-high 17 saves, one less than his career-high set last year. Pecoraro also had three takeaways and an assist.
• McKendree shot 15-for-24 (62.5%) and went 2-2 on sprints.
• The Bearcats assisted on 11 of their 15 goals (73.3%).
• McKendree's four-game win streak is the longest since going four straight late in the 2022 season (October 23rd to November 6).
UP NEXT
McKendree will have a bye weekend next week to be freshly prepared for their second trip to California from September 30th to October 3rd to compete in eight matches, four of which played at the annual Gary Troyer Tournament.
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
For more updates and information on Bearcat Athletics, please continue to visit McKBearcats.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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