WWPA Championship Day 2: Southern California foes to meet for title east of the Mississippi
O'FALLON, Ill. - According to the internet, it takes about 35 minutes to drive south from Biola University to Concordia University Irvine on the 5 and the 55.
But if you're a California driver, you'll probably get there in 32.
That's how many minutes it will take to decide which Southern California school takes home the 2023 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) title on Sunday afternoon at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex in O'Fallon, Ill.
The loser gets a bumpy three-and-a-half hour flight home.
The winner? Well, they get the chance to compete in the National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship, Dec. 1-3, at Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the campus of USC - about an hour's drive from campus.
If you don't hit traffic, that is.
Biola and Concordia will decide the conference champion at 12pm CT / 10am PT Sunday afternoon/morning. Live coverage is available here.
Game 6 (Semifinal): #2W Concordia - #1E Salem | Box
Concordia reserved a spot in the 2023 WWPA Men's Championship Final with a 14-11 win over top-seeded Salem in the opening semifinal on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles (12-16) held the WWPA's top-scoring team without a goal for an 11:27 stretch in the first half. Meanwhile, CUI scored four unanswered to take a lead it'd never relinquish.
Salem (18-4) opened the second half by scoring on a powerplay, but CUI answered on back-to-back possessions for its biggest advantage of the contest.
The Tigers didn't simply stalk back to their den, though.
Trailing by four heading into the fourth quarter, Marko Zivojinovic and Nikola Krstonosic converted consecutive penalties that pulled themselves within 13-11.
SU almost earned a chance to pull within one, nearly forcing a turnover as the shot clock expired; but CUI's Oscar Garcia Blomback somehow wrestled a bar-down shot away in a sea of arms and splashing that pushed the lead back to three.
Tanner Powell constructed a cage in front of his frame and held the Tigers scoreless the final 2:38. He finished with 11 saves.
CUI held Salem to its lowest goal total since Oct. 14 and second-lowest of the season.
Jacob Stuart paced the Golden Eagles with five goals while Harry Bentham and Carlos Olat each contributed two apiece.
WWPA Player of the Year Krstonosic registered six goals and two assists for the Tigers, finishing his 2023 campaign with 125 goals and 83 assists for a total of 208 points.
Salem will take on McKendree in the third-place game on Sunday morning at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET.
Game 7 (Semifinal): #2E McKendree vs #1W Biola | Box
The Biola offense dove into the pool and immediately turned it into a hot tub, shooting nearly .700 over the first 12 minutes of the game to create a gulf host McKendree could not climb out of.
The Eagles (20-12) led 7-2 at the first pause, thanks in large part to WWPA Freshman of the Year Roman Saroyan's hat trick within the first eight minutes.
At half time, McKendree decided it wouldn't go home without a fight and they came out of the break by holding Biola without a goal the final 5:37 of the third period.
A 4-2 advantage in the session made the deficit three and Justice Lamboy's second goal of the day made it 13-11 with 6:30 remaining.
Unfortunately for the Bearcats, their claws weren't sharp the rest of the way and the Eagles wet their beaks with two goals of their own.
Josh Halopoff and Saroyan led the Eagles with four scores. All-WWPA First Team goalkeeper Mitchell Carpenter made 12 saves.
Yannick Robertson paced McKendree with three goals and two assists. Adam Serrano, Breno Tebet, Isaac Demski and Lamboy finished with two goals apiece.
McKendree (9-13) will move on to face Salem in the third-place game Sunday morning at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET.
Game 5 (Consolation): #4E Mercyhurst vs #3E Gannon | Box
The Gannon Golden Knights will return to Erie with a fifth-place finish and a win over their crosstown rival following its 22-17 win in the Consolation Bracket on Saturday morning.
Marty Kaverman, Jr. led Gannon with four goals and five assists while Alexandros Kotskar finished with four and four.
Teagan Thomas tallied four goals and two assists, while Owen Hardner netted a game-high five for the Erie Lake Show.
Gannon finishes its season 12-10 overall in head coach Zarko Sadikovic's first season.
Game 8: (Consolation): #4E Mercyhurst vs #3W Fresno Pacific | Box
Fresno Pacific notched its first WWPA Championship win since 2021 with an 18-10 victory over Mercyhurst in the Consolation Bracket.
Forrest Gray logged four goals and three assists, William Green added a hat trick and a pair of assists, and the Sunbirds (5-23) used a 7-2 second quarter to pull away from the Lakers.
Asher Jones and Keller Sens each registered hat tricks in the game for Mercyhurst, which finished 4-22 in head coach Blair MacDougall's first season at the helm.