MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team fell 18-6 to Air Force Academy on Saturday morning at the Aquatic Center in the regular season finale. Air Force marked the first NCAA Division One opponent the Bobcats have hosted at home. It marked the Bobcats eleventh NCAA Division One opponent overall.
Killian Nguyen scored on the Bobcats (12-19) first possession but scoring was hard to come by after that and the Bobcats scored just two more goals in the first half. The Bobcats then scored twice in the third quarter and their final goal of the day two minutes into the fourth frame.
Nguyen scored twice, while four Bobcats found the back of the net once including Camden Peterson and William Pezold.
Air Force was led by Tom Legget's seven-goal day. He scored three times on a five-meter penalty, while also finding the back of net on a pair of power plays.
The Falcons scored five unanswered goals in the first quarter to create their initial separation and they led 6-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams deposited just one shot into the back of the net in the second quarter, resulting in a 7-3 halftime score. Peterson scored the goal for the Bobcats in the final minute of the frame.
The third quarter was the highest scoring quarter of the morning. Each team scored twice in the first four minutes before Air Force ran away with the match scoring seven consecutive goals before the third quarter buzzer. Soto was one of the Bobcats two goals scorers in the period. Air Force, who is the first team outside of the national rankings, led 16-5 heading into the fourth.
Air force scored two early goals and Andrew Jones scored within the first two minutes of the final period for the Bobcats. Jones' goal finalized the scoring for the rest of the day.
Matthew Lloyd played 24 minutes in the cage and made seven saves. Sebastion Palomera subbed in for Lloyd a minute into the fourth quarter. He finished with two saves.
Up next, UC Merced will begin California Pacific Conference Championship Round Robin play with OUAZ on Friday, November 10. The Bobcats will play three Round Robin games with the goal to be the #1 or #2 seed in order to play for the championship. Opening sprint from the Aquatic Center is scheduled for 10:00am on Friday.
