College roundup: Defense leading the way for Blue Devils’ 6-1 start this football season
The big story behind Merced College’s league-leading 6-1 football record has been defensive domination.
Before this season, the Blue Devil record for fewest rushing yards in a single game stood at 21, against Santa Rosa in 1993. The Blue Devils shattered that mark two weeks ago against Cabrillo in Aptos, holding the Seahawks to minus-17 yards on the ground.
Last week in Cupertino, they held 5-1 DeAnza to 11 rushing yards, forcing the Mountain Lions to throw. This led to four interceptions, two by freshman Jeremiah Robinson (Merced High), who has six for the year, tying him for first in the state.
His freshman teammate, Jaylen Thao-Booth (Merced) leads the conference in sacks with 12.5, good for second in the state.
Merced had a bye Saturday.
Men’s Soccer
The Blue Devils registered a huge nonconference victory over Folsom Lake, 1-0, on a goal by sophomore striker Daniel Borges (Pitman), who is second in state with 15 goals and also has five assists.
Attacking midfielder Thomas Knierime (Oakdale) played stellar defense against the Big-8 Falcons. The Devils are ranked No. 9 in the state, No. 5 in Northern California, and are in contention for a conference title behind Fresno and Taft as they start the second round against Central Valley Conference opponents.
Men’s Water Polo
The Blue Devils are in strong position for the postseason, with two Big 8 crossover games remaining against Modesto and Delta before the Coast Conference tournament next weekend, which will determine the NorCal seeding.
In their latest outing, an 11-8 conference victory at Ohlone in Fremont, sophomore Will Magdic (Madera) scored three goals and freshman Aston Jenkins (Clovis West) had four. Sophomore goalkeeper Austin Escobar (Atwater) registered 10 saves and continues to stand out.
Women’s Water Polo
The Blue Devils are on a roll, winning against San Francisco City and Ohlone of Fremont by scores 19-3 and 16-9. They are 4-1 in conference and 15-7 overall, which should make them a lock for the NorCals and secures them a No. 2 seed in this weekend’s Coast Conference tournament in Saratoga.
A core group of local players continue to lead the way: sophomores Libby Hamilton (Golden Valley) and Gabi Perez (Buhach Colony) and freshmen Claudette Asenjo (El Capitan) and Alina Hodges (Reedley).
UC Merced
Men’s Soccer (10-1-5, 7-0-4)
The UC Merced men’s soccer team remained unbeaten in Cal Pac play and extended their program-long unbeaten streak to 15 matches with a 1-1 draw at University of Antelope Valley on Oct. 22 and a 3-1 win at Pacific Union College on Oct. 27
Kevin Capetillo scored in the draw, while Marcos Ceballos recorded two goals and Andres Lua converted a penalty kick in the 3-1 win.
On Monday, October 24, Marco Sobrevilla was named the California Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the first time this season and the third time in his career.
Women’s Soccer (8-5-3, 7-3-1)
UC Merced women’s soccer defeated University of Antelope Valley 3-1 on Oct. 22 and fell to UC Santa Cruz 2-0 on Oct. 25 and tied 0-0 with Pacific Union College on Oct. 27.
Jocelyne Garcia became the program’s all-time assists leader with 25 career assists.
On Monday, October 24, Trinidad Quiroz was named the California Pacific Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Isabella Spiva was named the California Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Quiroz scored two goals in the win at Antelope Valley and has 12 on the year which is tied for second in the conference.
Cross Country
Jonathan Chavez won his first career race and both the UC Merced men’s and women’s cross country teams placed second on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Warrior Invitational on the William Jessup University Cross Country Course in Rocklin.
Chavez won the race with a personal best 8K time of 25 minutes and 32 seconds and finished eleven seconds ahead of the runner-up. He is the Bobcats first men’s cross country runner to win a race since 2018 and is the sixth ever in program history.
Chavez’s time was the fifth best in program history.
Alexandra Lopez was UC Merced’s top finisher on the women’s side, clocking a 5K time of 20:09 to take fourth overall. Lopez’s finish was her best of the season and she moves into a tie with Sofia Rios for second place in program history with seven career top-ten finishes.
Men’s Water Polo (2-10)
The Bobcats men’s water polo team placed seventh at the Sierra Pacific Division Championship last weekend.
After falling in two matches on Saturday, the Bobcats beat Cal State Monterey Bay’s club team 18-7 on Sunday, Oct. 23. The Bobcats’ 18 goals marked a season-high, as did the victory margin.
Devin Verma scored half of the Bobcats goals. Verma’s nine goals marked a season-high, one upping his previous high of eight goals that he originally set in the Bobcats inaugural win on October 9.
Women’s Volleyball (10-14, 7-10)
UC Merced’s women’s volleyball fell 3-0 to University of Saint Katherine (Oct. 22), Park University Gilbert (Oct. 27) and Benedictine University Mesa (Oct. 28).
Junior setter Serena Choi hit a career milestone as she became the fifth player in program history to go over 1,000 career assists.
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 2:42 PM.
