MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team finished 1-2 at the inaugural California Pacific Conference Men's Water Polo Championships over Veteran's Day Weekend. The Bobcats beat Cal Maritime 20-12 but fell 10-7 to OUAZ and 17-11 to Westcliff. UC Merced's loss to Westcliff ultimately ended the season. With a win over the Warriors, the Bobcats would have been crowned Cal Pac Champions while advancing to the NAIA West final match against OUAZ.
The Bobcats (13-21) finish their first full campaign in program history with 13 wins.
William Pezold finished the three-game event with ten goals and was named to the All-California Pacific Conference Team with Killian Nguyen and Camden Peterson. Both Nguyen and Peterson scored eight goals.
Aside from the Bobcats three award winners, Andrew Jones was key for UC Merced with four goals and four assists. Soto also had four assists and won eight of his ten sprint opportunities. Goalkeeper Matthew Lloyd finished with 27 saves.
The Bobcats opened up the tournament against OUAZ. Peterson scored first and finished with a hat trick, but OUAZ answered Peterson's opening goal with five straight goals and the Spirit led 7-3 at halftime. Nguyen got rolling late to keep the Bobcats within striking distance but UC Merced ultimately fell 10-7.
Later in the day, the Bobcats dominated offensively and deposited 20 shots into the back of the net to beat Cal Maritime. Pezold scored six goals in the win, including the games first goal. The Bobcats never trailed in the win and led for the final 27 minutes after Peterson broke a 2-2 tie. The Bobcats led 3-2 after the first quarter and used a stellar second frame to bring a 12-4 lead into halftime. Jones scored three straight goals early in the period to set the tone. Omar Lopez got into the scoring column just before the buzzer.
The second half of UC Merced's match vs. Cal Maritime was played tight as each team scored eight goals. The two teams alternated goals for the first few minutes before the Keelhaulers reeled off three straight goals to give themselves a fighting chance. Head coach Johnny Bega's squad made sure Cal Maritime never got any closer than a five-goal margin and it was Pezold to help put the finishing touches on the win.
UC Merced took an early 2-1 lead against Westcliff and the two teams were tied 3-3 at the end of the first quarter but Westcliff led 8-4 at halftime and never surrendered the advantage. It was 12-7 going into the final frame and the Bobcats showed fight with four goals in the period, but allowed five and fell 17-11. Westcliff essentially sealed the win with three unanswered goals to go up 17-10 with two and a half minutes left.
Ten different Bobcats scored in the championship tournament: Pezold (10), Peterson (8), Nguyen (8), Jones (4), Evan Ladeairous (2), Howie Zeff (2), Noah Hernandez (1), Andrew DeMello (1), Soto (1), Lopez (1).
Stay up to date with UC Merced men's water polo in the offseason by following the team on social media @UCMercedMWP.
