NEW LONDON, Conn. – The University of California, Merced men's water polo team secured its first win of the season, downing Connecticut College 11-9 on Friday night inside Lott Natatorium.
The Bobcats (1-10) scored the final three goals of the match to earn the victory and held Connecticut College scoreless for the final five minutes. Before the Bobcats 3-0 match-winning goal scoring run, the game had nine ties and seven lead changes.
Altug Misirli Jr. led all players with his second straight hat trick. Andrew Jones, Hayden Markell, and Matthew King scored two goals each in the game. Jones' multi-goal game was his seventh in a row.
UC Merced grabbed its first lead at 2-1 after back-to-back goals from Markell and Misirli Jr. a few minutes in. The Camels jumped back in front 3-2, but King pulled the Bobcats even before the quarter came to a close with a power play goal.
Jones scored two minutes into the second quarter for a 4-3 UC Merced lead. Tied 4-4, Misirli Jr. struck again for a 5-4 advantage. The back and forth action continued with the Camels scoring just before halftime to go into the break tied 5-5.
Connecticut College jumped in front 6-5 to start the third quarter before the Bobcats held the Camels scoreless for nearly the next six minutes. King and Misirli Jr. scored for the Bobcats in the stretch for another lead change, going up 7-6. However, the Camels had a good end to the third quarter with back-to-back goals to take an 8-7 lead into the final frame.
Finn Moss deposited a shot into the back of the net on the first possession of the fourth quarter to tie the game, Moss' first career goal. Connecticut College got the goal back at the 5:44 mark, but that would be the Camels last goal of the game as the Bobcats recorded five straight stops the rest of the way. Needing offense, Noah Hernandez tied the game with three minutes left. Jones netted the eventual game-winning goal with 1:44 on the clock and Markell delivered the dagger on a power play with 47 seconds to go.
Matthew Lloyd finished with 12 saves for the second straight outing. He also added two steals.
Up next, UC Merced will play MIT (10:30am PST) and No. 19 Harvard (3:00pm PST) at the Harvard Invitational on Saturday, October 17. Matches will be held at Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Mass.
