MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team dropped three matches over the weekend, including 26-3 to No. 18 Santa Clara in the season opener on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats other two matches were exhibition losses, 13-12 to Cuesta College and 14-12 to American River College.

Andrew Jones, Evan Ladearious, and Christopher Bettencourt were the Bobcats goal scorers against the nationally-ranked Broncos. Jones' goal came with 1:51 to go in the first quarter to get the Bobcats on the board. Bettencourt's score came in his UC Merced debut.

Santa Clara led 7-1 at the end of the first quarter and 15-2 at intermission and their offense remained hot the rest of the way as ten different Broncos registered a multi-goal match. Imme van der Schaaf held match-high with four goals.

In the Friday night exhibition against Cuesta, UC Merced stormed back from a six-goal halftime deficit with Camden Peterson and Weston Oliver leading the charge. The duo scored two each in the second half comeback attempt that fell just short. The Bobcats had a chance to force overtime on the last possession but were unable to come up with a shot attempt. Peterson scored four goals overall, while Matthew Lloyd recorded 14 saves in the cage.

The Bobcats led 7-6 at halftime against ARC on Saturday and extended the advantage to 9-6 with two quick third quarter goals by Christian Soto and Misha Golovatyi. Though, ARC didn't back down and managed to reel off five third quarter goals to eventually tie the match 11-11. It was 12-12 midway through the final frame before ARC struck with 1:53 left, which ended up being the game-winning goal. ARC added one more inside of 90 seconds while shutting out UC Merced for the final six minutes overall. Jones and Vincent Labonte recorded a hat trick for the Bobcats.

Up next, UC Merced will compete in the Rare Air Invitational September 5-6 at the USAF Academy. The Bobcats will face Whittier, McKendree, Cal State Fullerton, and Air Force inside Cadet Natatorium.