VALLEJO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's water polo team opened the year with ten consecutive goals and routed Cal Maritime 17-3 in the 2024 season opener on Saturday afternoon at the PEAC Pool.

The Bobcats (1-0) 17 goals are the third most in program history and the most ever in a road match. The Bobcats 14-goal margin of victory is tied for the largest in the brief history, as are just the three goals allowed.

Merced native Claudette Asenjo tallied six goals, including four scores in the first quarter in her UC Merced debut. The sophomore becomes the third player to wear a Bobcat uniform to reach that mark in a single game.

Freshmen Aislyn Sorsky and Piper Ferris recorded a hat trick, while Melanie Torres deposited two shots into the back of the net. Viviana Luna, Liberty Hamilton, and Hope Stokes added a goal each.

Stokes also logged all 32 minutes in the cage and recorded nine saves.

Asenjo scored the Bobcats first goal of the new campaign less than two minutes into the match and scored the teams first three overall, all at even strength, in a four and a half minute stretch.

Ferris converted a penalty shot soon after and Asenjo and Sorsky extended the Bobcats lead to 6-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Three different Bobcats for head coach Johnny Bega found the back of the net quickly in the second quarter and then it was Torres to make it 10-0 with 4:32 left to go in the first half. Cal Maritime stopped their nearly 14-minute scoring drought with a goal and then Sorsky countered with another successful shot. Each team found the back of the net once more before intermission and it was 12-2 Bobcats at the half.

Luna and Ferris each scored for the Bobcats in the third quarter to take a 14-3 lead, and then Asenjo got back in the mix and extended the lead to 15-3 in the opening 40 seconds of the final frame. Sorsky and Ferris finished off their hat trick in the final six minutes to cap off their collegiate debut and solidify the 17-3 season-opening victory.

Defensively, UC Merced held Cal Maritime scoreless for the final 13 minutes. Stokes had six of her nine saves in the second half.

Up next, UC Merced will play at Cal State Monterey Bay on Sunday, January 27 in Seaside, Calif., at 1:00pm.