LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Mercyhurst men's water polo team continued their 2026 season at day two of the Triton Invitational, taking on Long Beach State and La Verna. They lost their first game to Long Beach 24-4 and lost their second game in a close matchup to La Verna 20-17.
 
Game One
In the first quarter, Long Beach opened out the game with five consecutive goals to take a 5-0 lead. Senior Petar Vujovic put an end to that scoring run for Mercyhurst, scoring his second goal of the season. Senior Asher Jones added to Lakers' total with a goal of his own, narrowing the deficit to three. Long Beach gained momentum and scored five consecutive goals, ending the quarter with a 10-2 lead.
 
Long Beach brought their first quarter momentum in to the second, scoring six goals to take a 16-2 lead into the half.
 
Continuing into the third quarter, Long Beach scored three more goals, taking a 19-2 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, Long Beach scored another goal, but this time off of a power play. The Lakers scored on a powerplay of their own, thanks to senior Ben Gavran. Long Beach responded with three goals of their own. Freshman Bryce English scored his first collegiate goal of his career to narrow the Lakers deficit. Just as the quarter was ending, Long Beach got that goal back, winning the game 24-4.
 
Game Two
In the first quarter, the Leopards tallied three goals within the first two minutes of the game. The Lakers responded with a goal from senior Asher Jones to narrow the lead to two. La Verna responded with three more goals to take a 6-1 lead. Freshman Kane Macklin responded with a goal for the Lakers to reduce the Leopards' lead. Within the last minute of the quarter, the two teams traded goals with Macklin scoring his second for Mercyhurst. The Lakers then proceeded to score two more goals, both coming from senior Petar Vujovic. The Lakers trailed 7-5 going into the second quarter.
 
La Verna opened the second quarter scoring four straight goals, taking a seven goal lead. The Lakers responded with three consecutive goals, with the first coming from sophomore Declan Puacz. The second one came from sophomore Aiden Botterill, while the third came from freshman Mason Grzybowski. With under a minute remaining, the Leopards scored another goal, taking a 13-8 lead into halftime.
 
Mercyhurst opened up the third quarter with three consecutive goals. The first goal of the second half came from senior Ben Gavran. Vujovic tallied his third goal of the game, giving him a hat trick in the game. Botterill scored his second goal of the game to narrow their deficit to two. La Verna scored three of their own to take a 16-11 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
The Leopards continued putting their offense on display with two goals to open the quarter. Freshman Peter Bodoki put an end to that scoring streak with a goal for the Lakers. Macklin scored his third goal in the game, also giving him a hat trick. Jones scored his second goal of the game, reducing the La Verna lead to four. They responded with a goal of their own, before the Lakers scored one from the hands of Macklin yet again. La Verna scored yet another goal, but the Lakers responded with two more goals from Vujovic and Grzybowski. However, Mercyhurst ran out of time and ultimately fell short with a score of 20-17.
 
The Lakers will return to action to compete at day three of the Triton Invitational tomorrow, Aug. 30. First, they will play UC Santa Barbra at 11 a.m., and then they will St. Mary's at 3 p.m.