MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team won four of its six games during opening weekend in the Merced College North vs. South Tournament at the Aquatic Center.
The Bobcats (4-2) got off to a great start with a thrilling 8-7 win over Cerritos College in the season opener. Following losses to Mt. SAC and Los Angeles Valley College, the Bobcats won all three of their games on Saturday.
August 25 | UC Merced 8, Cerritos 7
August 25 | Mt. SAC 17, UC Merced 8
August 25 | LAVC 11, UC Merced 8
August 26 | UC Merced 10, Riverside City College 8
August 26| UC Merced 9, San Diego Mesa College 7
August 26| UC Merced 17, Ventura College 14
Camden Peterson led the Bobcats offensively with 17 goals, including four in the season-opening win over Cerritos and five in the weekend finale against Ventura College. He also scored four goals against Riverside City College.
Killian Nguyen scored 12 goals with a hat trick each against LAVC, RCC, and Ventura.
William Pezold was the only Bobcat to score in all six games over the weekend and finished with nine overall. Andrew Jones recorded a hat trick against LAVC while totaling eight goals across the entire weekend. Overall, eleven players scored a goal over the six-game slate.
UC Merced's season-opening 8-7 win over Cerritos proved to be a thriller with Peterson providing the offense and Matthew Lloyd showcasing his talent in the cage. Peterson was responsible for the Bobcats first goal of 2023 and went on to score four in total. UC Merced and Cerritos were tied twice in the final 90 seconds of regulation and both times Peterson went on to score, including scoring the game-winning goal with 45 seconds left.
Saturday morning's 7:30am match against RCC also had plenty of drama. The Bobcats trailed 7-5 early in the third quarter before going on to outscore the opponent 5-1 the rest of the way. The Bobcats and Tigers were tied 8-8 midway through the final frame before Nguyen gave the Bobcats the lead for good.
UC Merced led wire-to-wire in the wins over San Diego Mesa and Ventura. Austin Escobar logged all 32 minutes in the cage in the 9-7 win against San Diego Mesa.
The Bobcats biggest lead of the weekend was a nine-goal lead just before halftime against Ventura. Head coach Johnny Bega's team led 13-4 at the time following six unanswered UC Merced goals. The Bobcats 17 total goals in the victory marked the second most in program history behind an 18-goal effort against Cal State Monterey Bay's club team a year ago.
Up next, UC Merced will play Fresno Pacific University and Santa Clara University on Saturday, Sept. 2, at Sunnyside High School in Fresno, Calif.
