Pepperdine Handed 7-5 Setback by UC Irvine
10/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 25, 2006
MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine water polo team got off to a fast start against UC Irvine Wednesday afternoon at Raleigh Runnels Memorial pool, but was outscored 3-0 in the third quarter before eventually falling to 0-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play as the Anteaters picked up the 7-5 victory.
Pepperdine (10-13) received two goals from J.P. MacDonell (Redwood City, Calif.) and Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif.), while Clayton Snyder (Seal Beach, Calif.) added his 19th goal of the year in the loss.
UCI (7-13, 1-2 MPSF) was led by Collin Mello who scored five of the team's seven goals.
The Waves got off to a 2-0 lead on goals by Snyder and Auer in the first 2:08 of play. Mello scored at the 4:59 and 3:19 marks to even the contest at 2-all before MacDonell's 43rd goal of the season gave the home team a 3-2 lead after one quarter of play.
Auer's second score of the day put Pepperdine back up by two, 4-2, while Mello's third goal of the afternoon kept the visitors within one, 4-3, at the half.
Mello would make true on a penalty shot to tie the score at 4-4, setting up Jamie Frank's lone goal, giving UCI its first lead of the day, 5-4. The advantage would reach two, 6-4, on a Cole Bielskis score at the 1:30 mark of the third stanza. Pepperdine was held without a goal in the third period.
MacDonell's final goal of the day cut the deficit to one, 6-5, with 5:35 left to play. Mello added an insurance goal at 3:45 and the Waves' offense was held at bay the rest of the contest.
The Waves will take to the road for a pair of conference tilts this weekend. First up for Pepperdine is Cal, followed by Pacific on Sunday. Both games are scheduled to begin at noon PT.
