Score: UC Davis 21, UC Merced 5
Location: Davis, Calif. (Schaal Aquatics Center)
Record: UC Davis 12-11, UC Merced 4-16
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The short story: The first career hat trick from
Austin Quick helped lead UC Davis men's water polo to a 21-5 win over UC Merced in their final home game of 2025 on Sunday, Nov. 2.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Aggies opened the contest with a pair of goals from Andrew Hitchcock, along with one from Oriol Viñas, to give them a 3-0 lead.
- But the Bobcats responded with two goals in the final three minutes to end the first quarter down only one.
- Thomas Kiesling found the back of the net just two minutes into period two, kicking off a four-goal quarter for his team.
- Two from Oleg Shatskikh and the first from Gabe Bensen made up the rest of the Aggie scoring. Brady Simon held the road team to only one in the period as Davis took a 7-3 lead into the half.
- In the second half, the offensive explosion continued with six Aggie goals from Mateo Ruano, Brody Crouch, Ned Ginoti, Colton Fine, and Bensen to extend to a 13-4 lead.
- Quarter four saw Crouch, Bensen and Quick secure hat tricks as the home team scored eight goals in the final eight minutes of action.
- JT Doughty and Fine made up the last two scorers for the Aggies as they would roll to a 21-5 win in their final contest in Schaal Aquatics Center for the season.
UP NEXT: The Aggies wrap up the regular season against Long Beach State next Saturday, Nov. 8, at 12:00 p.m. PT to determine the top seed in the Big West Conference Championship. Aggie fans can follow along live on thefosh.net.
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