PEPPERDINE FALLS TO PACIFIC IN OVERTIME, 9-8

Mate Toth (photo by Jeff Golden)

The Waves were playing their first home game of the year on Sunday.

MALIBU, Calif. – The No. 9 Pepperdine men’s water polo team battled the No. 4-ranked Pacific Tigers into overtime, but fell 9-8 in both teams’ Golden Coast Conference opener on Sunday.

The Wave battled back from a 3-0 deficit and held a lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t put Pacific away, falling to 8-5 overall on the year and 0-1 in GCC play. The Tigers move to 12-2, 1-0 GCC on the year.

“We’ve made some good strides and played a competitive game against a very good Pacific squad,” said Pepperdine Head Coach Terry Schroeder. “We were right there with them and put ourselves in a position to win the game in the fourth quarter, we just have to be able to close it out. This is a young squad we have, though, and I like the progress we’re making.”

The teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 6-6, when Pacific took a one-goal lead on a score by Engin Ege Colak with 6:50 to play. The Waves came right back with a 6-on-5 goal from Marko Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) to even things at 7-7 once again.

Just over 30 seconds later Asic found the back of the net again off a quick pass by Kenneth Keller (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) and the Waves led 8-7 with 5:52 to play. Pacific would tie things back up with 2:38 to play and then scored the only goal in overtime to win it. Aleksander Petrovic scored the equalizer for the Tigers and then got the assist on Colak’s goal in the first overtime.

Pepperdine had several chances to break the tie in the last 2:30 of regulation, but turned it over twice and had a shot saved.

Pacific came out with two goals in the first quarter and then added one early in the second to take what would be the largest lead of the game for either team. The Waves stormed back with three goals before halftime to even things up. The Tigers scored with six seconds left in the first half to take a 4-3 lead into the break.

Mate Toth (Balatonalmadi, Hungary/Szilagyi Erzsebet Boarding School) scored twice in the second period including the equalizer with 2:26 to help Pepperdine get back in it.

Four players posted two goals each for the Waves on the day. Along with Asic and Toth, Brock Liebhardt (Fremont, Calif./Washington HS) and Keller each scored twice. Colak led all players with three scores for the Tigers.

Zack Rhodes (Palm Desert, Calif./Palm Desert HS) came up big for the Waves in goal several times on the day, posting 18 saves in the contest. Alen Osmanovic has 12 saves for Pacific.

“We really improved our defense from last week,” said Schroeder. “We wanted to keep it low scoring and they were only 3-for-9 on their powerplay opportunities, so that’s a good number for us. Offensively we’re still young and have a lot of room to grow, but the guys made a big jump from last week in how we played. We just have to keep working hard.”

The Waves will be back in action on Thursday when they host UC Santa Barbara for a 6:30 p.m. game. That match can be seen live on WaveCasts via Campus Insiders.

No. 4 Pacific def. No. 9 Pepperdine, 9-8 (ot)
PAC – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 1 – 0 – 9
PEP – 0 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 0 – 0 – 8

Scoring
PAC: Colak 3, Reeves 2, Petrovic, Araya, Ai, Thumwood
PEP: Liebhardt 2, Keller 2, Asic 2, Toth 2

Saves
PAC: Petrovic 12
PEP: Rhodes 18

Pepperdine Men's Water Polo Falls 8-2 at USC

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The No. 9 Pepperdine men’s water polo team dropped a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup on the road to No. 2 USC on Saturday afternoon, falling 8-2 to the Trojans.

The Waves pulled to within one goal in the second quarter, but couldn’t score again the rest of the way as USC pulled away.

Pepperdine scored both of its goals in the second quarter with Mark Urban (Budapest, Hungary//Diablo Valley College) and Luke Hewko (Irvine, Calif./Servite HS) turning in scores. Urban got the Waves on the board, making it 1-1 with a goal at the 5:25 mark in the quarter. After a pair of USC scores, Hewko made it a 3-2 game, scoring a goal with :55 seconds left in the half.

A four-goal quarter to open the second half for USC put the game out of reach, however.

Zack Rhodes (Palm Desert, Calif./Palm Desert HS) led the Waves with 12 saves in the game. Pepperdine drew nine ejections in the game, but could only convert on one of the power-play opportunities.

The Waves fall to 10-8 overall, 1-2 MPSF with the loss. USC improves to 16-2 overall, 4-0 MPSF. Pepperdine will be back in action next week when they host Concordia on Friday.

#2 USC 8, #9 Pepperdine 2
Oct. 17, 2015 - Uytengsu Aquatics Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
USC  1 - 2 - 4 - 1 = 8
PEP   0 - 2 - 0 - 0 = 2
SCORING:
USC — Nick Bell 2, Blake Edwards, Mihajlo MIlicevic, Lachlan Edwards, Bryce Hoerman, Grant Stein, Matteo Morelli.
PEP — Mark Urban, Luke Hewko.
SAVES: McQuin Baron (USC) 8, Zach Rhodes (PEP) 12.

No. 1 UCLA Clobbers No. 4 California

MALIBU, Calif., -- The top-ranked UCLA Bruins improved to 16-0 on the year with a 13-8 win over No. 4 California (14-3) in the semifinals of the 2015 Kap7 SoCal Invitational on Sunday morning.

The Bruins were led by junior Ryder Roberts, who scored a game-high three goals. UCLA improved to 79-65-1 all-time against California, picking up its fifth-straight win over the Golden Bears.

California's Johnny Hooper scored the match's first goal (5:36) to put the Golden Bears up 1-0. It would be Cal's only lead of the game as UCLA would reel off four straight goals and never trail again. Sophomore Matt Farmer (3:56) and freshman Spencer Farrar (2:21) each scored on counter attacks to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead at the end of one.

UCLA exploded for five goals in the second period to build a 7-3 lead by halftime. Redshirt freshman Warren Snyder scored a power play goal for the Bruins to push the lead to 3-1 (6:14) and then Roberts scored UCLA's fourth-straight (5:27) with a goal from the front court. Cal would trim the lead to 4-3 with a front court score from Nicholas Carniglia (5:07) and a penalty score by Farrel South (4:46). But UCLA would reel off three straight goals, two by junior Patrick Fellner (power play at 4:23 and front court score at 2:58) and a goal from the front court by sophomore Max Irving (3:31).

Cal scored the first goal of the third period (6:34) to cut the lead to 7-4, but the Bruins scored three more in a row to take a commanding 10-4 advantage. Junior Gordon Marshall made a great turn at set and powered in his first goal (6:19) and then senior Anthony Daboub scored from the front court (4:57). Roberts then scored his second of the match on a counter (3:38). Odysseas Masmanidis scored a penalty goal (3:24) for Cal to cut the lead to 10-5. But UCLA tacked on two more goals to end the third with a 12-5 lead. Junior Chancellor Ramirez scored on a counter (2:41) and then Roberts completed his hat trick with a power play score (1:01).

The Bruins got a goal from the front court by sophomore Alex Roelse (5:48) to open the scoring in the fourth, leading 13-5. UCLA went on autopilot after that, burning the clock on all offensive possessions, holding on for a 13-8 win.

Junior Garrett Danner played all four periods in the cage for UCLA, registering 12 saves while allowing eight goals (three by penalty). He was also credited with three steals. Lazar Andric registered 17 saves, but allowed 13 goals in the loss for California.

UCLA went 3-for-10 on power plays while California went 0-for-6. The Bruins did not attempt a penalty shot while California went 3-for-4.

The Bruins advance to the finals where they will face No. 2 USC for the first time in 2015 at 5:20 p.m. at Pepperdine's Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.

No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 4 California (Kap7 SoCal Invitational - Semifinals)

	1	2	3	4	F
No. 4 California	1	2	2	3	8
No. 1 UCLA	2	5	5	1	13

6x5 - UCLA - 3/10 - CAL - 0/6
Penalties - UCLA - 0/0 - CAL - 3/4
CAL Goals: Johnny Hooper 2, Odysseas Masmanidis 1, Chandler Jarrels 1, Farrel South 1, Nicholas Carniglia 1, Colin Mulcahy 1, J.D. Ratchford 1
CAL Saves: Lazar Andric 17
UCLA Goals: Ryder Roberts 3, Patrick Fellner 2, Spencer Farrar 1, Chancellor Ramirez 1, Anthony Daboub 1, Gordon Marshall 1, Warren Snyder 1, Max Irving 1, Alex Roelse 1, Matt Farmer 1
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 12