VALLEJO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team swept the inaugural California Pacific Conference Round Robin on Sunday afternoon, beating Cal Maritime 18-6 and the defending NAIA Water Polo Finals Champion Westcliff Warriors 16-11.
The Bobcats (9-6) 18 goals scored in Sunday's opener tied the program-high and their 12-goal margin of victory was a program-best.
William Pezold led the Bobcats offensively with a combined seven goals on the day, including four in game one. Camden Peterson and Killian Nguyen scored six goals each. Nguyen scored a career-high five goals against Cal Maritime, while Peterson had four in the win over Westcliff. Andrew Jones also scored four times against Westcliff, tying his career-high.
Matthew Lloyd recorded all 64 minutes in the cage and had 15 saves against the Keelhaulers before racking up 18 against Westcliff.
Game One | UC Merced 18, Cal Maritime 6
The Bobcats got off to a hot start with four unanswered goals, two from Pezold, leading up to the midway point of the first quarter. Pezold added another goal for a first quarter hat trick and the Bobcats led the Keelhaulers 6-1 after eight minutes of action.
Nguyen matched Pezold with a hat trick of his own in the second quarter. Tommy Bauer scored in the final minute of the first half to extend the Bobcats lead to as many as seven at 10-3 heading into intermission.
Head coach Johnny Bega's squad scored three consecutive goals in the third quarter to take a double digit lead up 13-3. Up 15-5 midway through the final frame, Evan Ladeairous deposited his first shot into the back of the net and then Bauer scored once more to give the Bobcats their biggest lead of the day at 17-5. Each team scored once more before the final buzzer for the 18-6 final.
Game Two | UC Merced 16, Westcliff 11
A back and forth first quarter saw the Bobcats overcome a pair of one-goal deficits and then Pezold rang up his first goal against Westcliff to give UC Merced their first lead of the game just before the second period.
Westcliff netted an equalizer in the opening minute of quarter number two only for James Soto to have an answer and put the Bobcats back on top on the next possession. Andrew Jones doubled the Bobcats lead a minute later, but the Bobcats found themselves tied up 6-6 in the final 30 seconds of half number one. With the shot clock off, Soto, who finished with a hat trick, fired and scored and the Bobcats led 7-6 at halftime.
Peterson got things going right out of the break, scoring twice within the first two minutes to give the Bobcats their first three-goal advantage of the game. Later in the frame, Westcliff regrouped and pulled within a goal. The Warriors would tie it at 10-10 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Nguyen and Peterson followed by rattling off back-to-back goals to give the Bobcats the lead for good and UC Merced would finish the game on a 6-1 run overall. Jones helped put the game out of reach with 90 seconds remaining with a goal to make it 15-11. Pezold blasted one more goal to finish off the Bobcats 16-goal outing.
Looking ahead, the Bobcats will compete in the Gary Troyer Tournament September 29-30. The Bobcats will start the multi-team event against Penn State Behrend at the La Verne Aquatic Center in La Verne, Calif. The opening sprint is scheduled for 3:00pm.
