FRESNO, Calif. — Fresno Pacific men's water polo earned a hard-fought WWPA conference victory over UC Merced, rallying from an early deficit to secure a 15-13 win. Freshman Ryder Stermer led the charge with a career-high eight goals, coming just one goal shy of the program's single-game record.
"Anytime you can go on the road and get a conference win is a great day and our guys really stepped up in this one," said head coach Jonathan Miller. "We knew they would have a lot of emotion on their senior day and they really pushed us in the first quarter."
Jake Canales opened the scoring just a minute into the match, but UC Merced responded with four consecutive goals to take control. Canales added a power-play goal to bring the Sunbirds within three, making it 5-2.
Stermer sparked the FPU offense in the second period, scoring twice in the opening minutes. Canales converted a penalty shot at the 3:13 mark, and Stermer followed with another goal to tie the match at 6-6.
The teams continued trading goals in the third period, eventually reaching an 11-11 deadlock. Ryan Scott, Giacomo Hernandez and Stermer helped the Sunbirds seize their first lead of the match at 12-11. Stermer scored four of FPU's five goals in the period, and the teams entered the final quarter tied at 12.
The 'Birds took control in the fourth, with Canales and Stermer combining to push Fresno Pacific ahead 15-12. UC Merced added a late goal in the final 30 seconds, but the Sunbirds held on for the 15-13 victory.
"Our team stayed poised and chipped away throughout the game to get the result. Ryder and Jake combining for 13 goals was huge, but we had a ton of guys with assists, steals and field blocks that put us in a position to close it out. Holding them scoreless for the first seven minutes of the 4th was a team effort and sealed it for us."
Stermer finished with a career-high eight goals, putting him just one shy of the FPU single-game record of nine, shared by Nick Fadden in 2011 and Zlatko Vlasic with ten in an exhibition against Delta College. Canales also played a key role in the offensive effort as the Sunbirds completed the comeback and earned the WWPA win.
NEXT UP: Fresno Pacific completes the last two conference matches of the season down in SoCal. The 'Birds face Biola on Friday, November 6th at 7pm and Concordia University Irvine that following Saturday, November 7th at 1pm.
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