USAFA, Colo. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team combined for 27 goals but were unable to come away with a victory on the first day of the Rare Air Invitational hosted by Air Force. UC Merced (0-3) fell 18-13 to Whittier and 17-14 to McKendree.
Vincent Labonte and Matthew King led the Bobcats offense with five goals each on Saturday. Labonte scored all five against McKendree, while King recorded four against Whittier and one against McKendree. King's first career goal came in the first quarter against Whittier.
Game One | Whittier 18, UC Merced 13
The first quarter was tightly contested with Whittier taking a 3-1 lead and then the Bobcats returning the favor with a 3-1 goal scoring run of their own to grab their first lead of the day at 4-3 following an Evan Ladeairous goal in the final 30 seconds. Whittier responded to tie the game 4-4 before the first quarter buzzer.
Whittier opened up the second quarter with four unanswered goals over the first four minutes to create initial separation, leading 8-4. The lead extended to 10-5 at the 1:47 mark of the period and it was 11-7 at halftime. Christian Soto and Andrew Jones scored two late first half goals to get the Bobcats within four.
However, the Poets managed to build a bigger lead out of intermission with four more unanswered goals and it was 15-7 with 3:04 left in the third quarter. The closest the Bobcats got was within five goals the rest of the match.
Weston Oliver, King, and Soto scored their first career goals in the loss.
Game Two | McKendree 17, UC Merced 14
UC Merced put together a solid first quarter and four different Bobcats found the back of the net to help give the Bobcats a 4-3 lead after one.
The lead held for the first minute of the second quarter before McKendree found their rhythm offensively and remained stout defensively, pitching a second quarter shutout while outscoring the Bobcats 6-0 in the frame. The second quarter shutout gave McKendree a 9-4 lead at halftime.
Labonte ended the Bobcats scoring drought in the third quarter less than a minute in, but the Bobcats couldn't cut into the deficit and still trailed by five goals going into the final frame, 13-8. Bennett Misirli was responsible for the Bobcats eighth goal which marked the first of his career.
The Bobcats kept fighting and gave themselves a chance at a comeback cutting the deficit to 14-11 with 4:23 remaining. Shortly after, Jones converted a penalty shot and it was 15-13 at the 2:39 mark. McKendree responded well getting back-to-back goals from their leader Armand Le Goff which proved to seal the win for his team as they were up 17-13 inside of 90 seconds to go. Labonte scored his fifth goal and the Bobcats final goal with 21 seconds left in the 17-14 loss.
Other notables from day one of the Rare Air Invitational include four total goals from James Soto, three goals each from Jones, C. Soto, and Ladeairous, and seven assists from Jones. He had four assists against McKendree. Noah Hernandez and Aydann Hambruch scored one goal. Matthew Lloyd recorded ten saves on Saturday between both games. He also had three assists and three steals.
Up next, UC Merced will play NCAA D1 opponents Cal State Fullerton (10:10am PST) and Air Force (2:40pm PST) on Sunday.
