WWPA Championship Day 1
O'FALLON, Ill. - The 2023 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Men's Championship opened with overtime fireworks as the higher-seeded teams took care of their business on the opening day of the postseason tournament.
Concordia will take on Salem in Saturday's first semifinal, while host McKendree will face Biola.
Here's how it all went down.
Game 1: #2E McKendree 17 - #3W Fresno Pacific 16 (OT) | Box
Yannick Robertson scored twice in overtime and Jimmy Cronin held Fresno Pacific to a single goal over the last 10 minutes of play as host McKendree came back to force the extra sessions before edging the Bearcats, 17-16, in the opening game.
FPU led the majority of the game and looked to have things in hand when back-to-back scores from Eugenio Maldonado and Pietro Cattano made it 15-13 at the 4:29 mark of the fourth quarter.
However, the Bearcats rallied for back-to-back goals to tie the game, then came up with a defensive stop under the 10-second mark. The outlet pass went to a streaking Breno Tebet, who had a chance to win the game as time expired, but FPU goalkeeper Ethan McLaughlin made a game-saving, point-blank save to force the game to OT.
All-WWPA Second Team center Yannick Robertson took over overtime, much as he did back on Sept. 30 against FPU. He pounded home a dish from Tebet before the first break to give McK a lead.
The Bearcats needed one final stop with 90 seconds remaining, but FPU's Christian Clark snuck a skip shot under the left arm of Cronin to tie it back up.
FPU eventually got the ball back with a chance to take the lead; however, the Bearcats picked off a pass and sprinted toward the Sunbird goal. Tebet found Robertson inside, and the Trinidad and Tobago standout slammed home the game-winner in front of the home crowd.
Tebet, an All-WWPA Second Team honoree, led all scorers with seven goals while Robertson had four. Cronin finished with 14 saves and two assists.
WWPA Honorable Mention Forrest Gray led the way with five goals for the Sunbirds while Clark matched his season-high with four.
McKendree (9-12) advances to the WWPA semifinals while FPU (4-22) heads to the Consolation Bracket.
Game 2: #3E Gannon vs #2W Concordia | Box
Concordia earned its first-ever appearance in the WWPA semifinals with a thorough 15-12 win over Gannon.
All-WWPA Second Team Jacob Stuart had four goals and three assists, first-teamer Harry Bentham scored three, and the Golden Eagles used a 5-1 second quarter to take an insurmountable lead over the Golden Knights.
All-WWPA First Team selection Alexandros Kotskar registered five goals while Honorable Mention Valdimir Mickic added three. Fellow Honorable Mention goalkeeper Alvaro Marco made 10 saves.
CUI (11-16) heads to the semifinals to take on No. 1 East seed Salem (18-3), which did not play Friday because of its well-earned bye.
Gannon (10-10) heads to the Consolation Bracket.
Game 3: #4E Mercyhurst vs #1W Biola | Box
The West's top seed Biola left little doubt in its opener against Mercyhurst, downing the Lakers 25-6 to earn a spot in its first-ever WWPA semifinal.
WWPA Freshman of the Year Roman Saroyan scored a game-high five goals, All-WWPA First Team Max Osborn added four and the Eagles outpaced the Lakers 14-1 in the second half.
Mercyhurst did have the first advantage of the day, however, as Keller Sens converted a nifty pass from Nate Cheney to make it 1-0.
WWPA Honorable Mention Owen Hardner scored three times and Sens scored twice.
Biola (19-12) moves on to face McKendree in the semifinals while Mercyhurst (4-20) heads to the Consolation Bracket.
Game 4 (Consolation): 3W Fresno Pacific vs 3E Gannon | Box
The Golden Knights jumped out to a 5-1 lead and then held on for dear life en route to earning its first-ever WWPA postseason win, 15-13, over the Sunbirds.
The Sunbirds clawed their way back within a goal five times during the rest of the game, but could never find the game-tying goal.
Christian Clark, who once again matched his season high with four goals, pulled FPU within one with 85 seconds remaining, but Vladimir Mickic scored on the next possession for Gannon to give the Golden Knights the two-goal padding needed.
Kotskar deposited a tournament-high eight goals and two assists.
Clark and Eugenio Maldonado each scored four.
Gannon (11-10) and FPU (4-23) continue Consolation Bracket play on Saturday when both take on Mercyhurst.