LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team combined for 39 goals and swept day one of the Gary Troyer Tournament on Friday, beating Penn State Behrend 20-7 and Whittier College 19-11.

The Bobcats (11-6) two victories extend their winning streak to a program-best five games. In addition, the Bobcats won two games in the same day for the second time in a week and for the third time this season.

Both of the Bobcats offensive outputs on Friday were the two best in program history.

Camden Peterson scored a 2023 team-high eight goals in the dominant win over Penn State Behrend and followed with two more in the later game.

Killian Nguyen also totaled ten goals on the day, going for a career-high seven against Whittier and recording a hat trick against the Lions.

Andrew Jones notched a hat trick in each game.

Game One | UC Merced 20, Penn State Behrend 7

UC Merced scored 20 goals for the first time in program history, including 12 unanswered in the second half to knock off the Lions.

Prior to scoring the 12 unanswered, the two teams traded goals in the opening quarter with no team scoring back-to-back goals until Nguyen found the back of the net in the final 20 seconds of the first frame and the first minute of the second quarter. Midway through the second quarter, Peterson scored two in a row to give the Bobcats their biggest first half lead at 8-5.

Head coach Johnny Bega's team led 8-7 at intermission.

Soto started the Bobcats 12-0 run in the second half. Howie Zeff scored on the next possession and the Bobcats kept their foot on the gas pedal the rest of the way, scoring six goals in each quarter while shutting out the Lions. Peterson had three third quarter goals. Four Bobcats scored in the final frame with Tommy Bauer scoring the final goal to give the Bobcats 20 goals for the first time in program history.

Matthew Lloyd was in the cage for the second half shutout and recorded eight saves. Sebastian Palomera stopped two first half shots. Zeff was also key defensively with four steals.

 Game Two | UC Merced 19, Whittier College 11

Similar to the Gary Troyer Tournament opener, the Bobcats dominated the second half to earn another big win over a NCAA opponent. The Bobcats led 9-7 at halftime before outscoring the Poets 10-4 in the second half.

The Poets scored two of the first three goals to start the match, but Jones and Nguyen answered to give the Bobcats the lead. Whittier pulled even less than 20 seconds later before Evan Ladeairous and James Soto registered a goal each to give the Bobcats a 5-3 lead after one quarter of play.

Whittier fought back to tie the game at 7-7 a minute before halftime. The final minute was highlighted by the Bobcats as Nguyen scored to give the Bobcats the lead for good and Jones beat the buzzer to give his squad a 9-7 lead at the break.

The second half was all Bobcats. Leading 12-9 with three minutes to go in the third quarter, Nguyen started a stretch of five straight goals for UC Merced to extend the lead to as many as eight at 17-9. Nguyen had three goals in the run, while Jones and Peterson scored once in the surge that carried into the fourth quarter.

UC Merced and Whittier each scored two goals in the final four minutes of the game with the Bobcats ultimately winning 19-11. Bauer scored one of the Bobcats two goals to record a hat trick.

Oscar Luna and Lloyd had seven and six saves, respectively. Luna drew the start.