Pepperdine Looks to Ride Wave of Success into SoCal Tourney
10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 13, 2006
MALIBU, Calif. -
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The Pepperdine water polo team picked up some momentum last week by winning all three games of the Pepperdine Mini. The Waves will look to continue their winning ways this weekend as they head to the SoCal Tournament hosted by USC at the McDonald's Swim Center and Commerce pools in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Waves (8-9) dropped their first decision of the season to cross-town rival Loyola Marymount on Sept. 9 in Los Angeles and will be looking for revenge in the first of two pool-play contests Saturday morning. Later that afternoon, Pepperdine will face No. 2 Cal for the pool's top seed heading into bracket play Sunday.
"Playing LMU will be the most important match of the weekend for us," according to head coach Jack Kocur. "They beat us at their place earlier this season and we would like to avenge that loss. The game is also important because the winner of that first game should finish in the top eight where is where we would like to be. If we can get in the top eight, then we would like to make a run at the top 5. After the first game, the rest of the weekend will be about gaining momentum as we prepare for the conference opener against Stanford on Oct. 21."
Pepperdine is led by freshman JP MacDonell's (Redwood City, Calif.) team-leading 34 goals and 13 assists this season. Junior Jason Langten (Irvine, Calif.) is second on the team in scoring with 22 after recording 10 goals in six games last week. Senior Doug Mann (Coronado, Calif.) is third on the team with 19 goals. Matt Lee (Portland, Ore.) is tied for the team lead with 13 assists, while junior Matt Welde (Devon, Penn.) is third with 11.
This weekend will serve as the final tune-up before Pepperdine enters Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play on Oct. 21 against Stanford. On the 25th, the Waves will face UC Irvine in its second conference game of the season. Both games will be at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool where Pepperdine is 235-84 all-time.
