Pepperdine Hosts Cal Sunday
10/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
UPCOMING — The Pepperdine men’s water polo team plays three matches at home this weekend, including big MPSF contests against No. 13 Pacific and No. 3 California at the Raleigh-Runnels Memorial Pool.
GAME #25 — The Waves (20-4, 0-1) meet No. 13 Pacific (13-11) at 12 p.m. on Saturday. Pacific finished 11th last weekend at the SoCal Tournament.
GAME #26 — The big game of the weekend will be the Pepperdine vs. No. 3 Cal (16-2, 1-0) game at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Cal just fell to No. 3 in the national rankings this week after losing to Stanford 10-9 at the SoCal Tournament and finsihing third. The Bears are led by senior All-American goalkeeper Mark Sheredy who has 125 saves in 15 games for the season. The Waves will then play an exhibition game against Cuesta College at 3 p.m.
PEPPERDINE AT SOCAL TOURNAMENT— The Waves went 3-1 and finished fifth at the SoCal Tournament last weekend (Oct. 13-14) at UC Irvine. Pepperdine defeated No. 16 Bucknell 10-8, No. 10 LMU 12-8 and No. 6 Long Beach 8-7. No.4 UCLA defeated the Waves 11-6.
STANDOUTS — Freshman Caleb Hamilton (Irvine, Calif. / Northwood HS) scored a team-high eight goals at the SoCal Tournament and scored the winning goal against Long Beach on a 5-meter penalty shot. Junior Grant Miller (La Verne, Calif. / Damien HS), junior Adam Hewko (Irvine, Calif. / Servite HS) and freshman Andrew Milcovich (Walnut, Calif / De La Salle / Calif.) were responsible for five goals each. Sophomore goalkeeper Travis Stachowski (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Foothill HS) ended the tournament with 31 saves.
PEPPERDINE IN THE POLLS — The Waves remain No. 5 for the fifth straight week.
WAVES IN THE NATIONAL TOP 50 — Pepperdine was represented in each of the individual and team national water polo rankings this week. On the top 50 individual goal scorers list was No. 28 J.P. MacDonell (38 goals, 2.2 per game) and No. 38 Adam Hewko (35 goals, 2.5 per game). For team rankings, the Waves moved up to No. 6 for team goal leaders (283 goals, 11.8 per game) and to No. 5 for defensive leaders (171 goals against, 7.1 per game).
STACHOWSKI #3 IN MPSF RANKING — Travis Stachowski is ranked No. 3 for goals against average (14 goals, 6.07 goals against average). For scoring leaders, Adam Hewko ranks No. 7 (35 goals, 2.5 per game), J.P. MacDonell is No. 10 (38 goals, 2.2 per game), Caleb Hamilton made the list as No. 15 (20 goals, 1.54 per game) and taking the No. 25 spot is Grant Miller (27 goals, 1.35 per game). For team points, Pepperdine is ranked No. 4 (283 goals, 11.79 per game). The Waves are also ranked No. 4 for team goalkeeping (218 saves, 171 game average, 7.13 goals against average).
NEW PHOTOS IN GALLERY — Pictures from the UCLA game (Oct. 13) are now in the gallery. Many thanks to Scott Hubbell for the additional photos now in the reunion album.The Waves water polo website www.pepperdinesports.com can be accessed by going to the blue button on the left hand side of the page marked photo galleries.
WAVES WATER POLO FEATURED ON MAIN WEB PAGE — The Pepperdine University Public Relations Department has given the team some great coverage on the front page of the main website this week http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/stories/waterpolo.htm or www.pepperdine.edu
UP NEXT — Pepperdine travels to Northern Calif. next weekend to meet No. 10 UC Davis on Friday, Oct. 26, at 6 p.m., in Davis. On Sunday, Oct. 28. The Waves will play No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto at 1 p.m.
JACK KOCUR — Coach Jack Kocur served as interim head coach for the 2006 season, and this will be his first season as head coach as he takes over for Terry Schroeder who is serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Team. Kocur was a member of Pepperdine’s 1997 national championship team, earning first All-American honors as a senior. Kocur had spent four seasons as an assistant under Schroeder prior to the 2006 season. Former Pepperdine player William Rodriguez is in his second season as assistant coach.
PEPPERDINE HISTORY — In its first 33 seasons, the Pepperdine water polo program has posted an overall record of 596-363, including a 165-104 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record.The Waves have posted 13 20+ win seasons and advanced to the NCAA Championships 12 times, claiming the program’s lone national title in 1997.
