The Merced High girls water polo team found themselves tied with El Capitan after the first quarter on Monday night in a showdown for first place in the Central California Conference. The Bears depth and endurance came into play as Merced created some separation by outscoring the Gauchos 3-0 in the second quarter on their way to a 9-3 victory at Merced High School.

 

The win gives the Bears sole possession of first place atop the CCC at 17-1 overall and 5-0 in the CCC at the midpoint of the conference schedule. Not only was Monday’s game a matchup of the top two teams in the CCC, but also the Sac-Joaquin Section with Merced ranked No. 3 by MaxPreps and El Capitan ranked No. 8 overall.

 

“The game played out exactly as I expected,” said Merced coach Kit Grattan. “It was very physical. There's a little tension between both teams, because they have played against each other and with each other for years. A bunch of them have played all four years, so we knew that's the way it was going to be. We just had to persevere and play our game.”

 

Both teams managed just one goal in the first quarter with Sarah Slocum finding the net for the Bears and Peyton Adrian scoring for the Gauchos. Grattan’s ability to turn to his bench with substitutions played a role in keeping his team fresh as the Bears then outscored El Capitan 3-0 in the second quarter. Slocum beat the Gauchos to a missed shot and pushed it in for a 2-1 lead midway through the second quarter. Taylor Lung then scored two of her three goals in the final 2:38 of the half to extend the Merced lead to 4-1.

 

“We know our hard work in practice is going to pay off,” said Slocum, who finished with two goals, two assists and eight steals. “It’s a four-quarter game so even though it may be close in the first quarter or first half, our hard work in practice will help us tire them out by the end of the game.”

 

The Bears were able to extend the lead in the second half with Elli Metcalf and Zoey Hickman both scoring two goals each. Lung finished the game with three goals, three assists and four steals. “I think our ability to move the ball around and get it down (the pool) was the difference,” Grattan said. “We started to wear them now a little bit, I think they got a little bit tired. (El Capitan) played super aggressive, they played a really good game.”

 

Merced has now won 17 consecutive games as the Bears have their sights set on repeating as CCC champions and making a run at back-to-back section championships. “Everyone is striving to repeat,” Elli Metcalf said. Everyone wants it and the fact that everyone is hungry, that’s huge for us.”

 

“We’ve worked together for so long and we work hard,” Slocum added. “I mean our group is dedicated to the sport. We have a core group of players who have been playing together for six or seven years.”

Boys Water Polo

Merced 20, El Capitan 1 – In a battle of two teams tied atop the CCC standings on the boys side it was all Bears. Cord McCall led the way with six goals and nine steals for Merced (17-2 overall, 5-0 CCC). Reid McCall added four goals and three steals and Hunter Gossett chipped in with four goals, two assists and two steals for the Bears.

 

Buhach Colony 14, Atwater 5 – Talen Tipler Tayven Tipler and Julian Magallon all scored three goals to pace the Thunder past the Falcons. Joseph Laranjo added two goals and Thunder goalie Alex Cesena blocked 16 shots in the cage. Maverick Shepherd led Atwater with two goals and Falcons goalie Cris Alvarez added five saves and four steals.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.