Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Luke (Bear) Weigle had two of his five goals in a game-closing 3-0 run as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team came back to defeat UC Merced 12-11 in its first of two games at the Triton Invitational on Sunday.

CMS also fell to No. 11 UC Santa Barbara 16-8 in its second game of the day, as it moves to 1-3 on the young season. The Stags also kept games close into the second half against No. 2 California and No. 6 UC Irvine on Saturday, before falling 19-8 and 18-8, respectively.

In the first game of Sunday's action, CMS trailed 7-5 at the half after UC Merced scored five goals in a row to pull ahead 6-3. Weigle scored twice in the final 2:04 of the half to keep the Stags within two at the break. 

Donovan Davidson and Luke Leonard closed out the third quarter with goals to make it 8-8 heading into the fourth, and Cristian Pang gave the Stags a 9-8 lead with 7:07 left. UC Merced responded with the next three goals to go ahead 11-9, but Weigle answered with 4:21 left, Pang knotted the score with 3:25 left, and Weigle tallied the eventual game-winner with 2:37 to go.

Pang finished with a hat trick for CMS, while Jack Bryant and Nick Kennedy also had goals.

In the nightcap, Weigle and Kennedy each scored twice as the Stags battled UC Santa Barbara close for much of the contest, while facing their third ranked Division I opponent of the weekend. Kennedy's second goal tied it 3-3 early in the second before the Gauchos closed out the half on a 4-0 run. Weigle scored his second to start the second half and make it 7-4, but UC Santa Barbara had its second 4-0 run to stretch the lead to 11-4.

Leonard and Pang had back-to-back goals to close to 11-6, and Thomas Walker and Len Korol answered UC Santa Barbara goals to make it 13-8, but the Gauchos tacked on three more goals in the final 1:17 to stretch the final margin out to eight.

CMS will be back in action on Saturday and Sunday when it opens up its home schedule by co-hosting the Inland Empire Classic, beginning with a rematch against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 9 a.m. The Stags will also face Fresno Pacific (Saturday, 3:30), Ottawa (Sunday, 8 a.m.) and California Baptist (Sunday, 2:30 p.m.).