Big Weekend for the Waves
10/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
UPCOMING — The Pepperdine men’s water polo team was forced to cancel the Pepperdine vs. California game scheduled for last Sunday (Oct. 21) due to the Malibu fires. As a result, the Pepperdine vs. UC Davis game, intended for this Friday, has been cancelled and the Waves will travel to Berkeley on Friday and Stanford on Sunday for Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contests.
GAME #26 — The No. 5 Waves (21-4, 1-1) will travel to Berkeley to meet No. 2 Cal (17-2, 2-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Bears are led by senior All-American goalkeeper Mark Sheredy, who has 136 saves in 16 games for the season.
GAME #27— Pepperdine meets No. 4 Stanford (8-5, 1-2) in Palo Alto on Sunday, Oct. 28, at 12 p.m. The Cardinal fell from No. 2 in the rankings this week after suffering a 7-5 loss to No. 7 Long Beach State.
PEPPERDINE VS. PACIFIC — The Waves defeated No. 13 Pacific 12-9 on Saturday (Oct. 20). Pepperdine and Pacific traded goals until the last quarter when the Waves offense stepped up and scored four goals.
STANDOUTS — Sophomore Clayton Snyder (Seal Beach, Calif. / Los Alamitos HS) scored five goals to lead the Waves to victory over Pacific. Snyder’s efforts boosted him to No. 25 on the MPSF goals against average rankings. Freshman Caleb Hamilton (Irvine, Calif. / Northwood HS) was responsible for three goals and junior Adam Hewko (Irvine, Calif. / Servite HS) scored two.
PEPPERDINE IN THE POLLS — The Waves remain No. 5 for the sixth straight week. Pepperdine joins USC as the only teams to maintain their positions in the top 10 this 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. 38 J.P. MacDonell (39 goals, 1.8 per game) and No. 42 Adam Hewko (37 goals, 1.9 per game). For top saves, Travis Stachowski was No. 26 (96 saves, 6.9 per game) and Jack Curley was No. 30 (89 saves, 11.1 per game). For team rankings, the Waves stayed at No. 6. For team goal leaders (295 goals, 11.8 per game) and moved up to No. 4 for defensive leaders (180 goals against, 7.2 per game).
SIX PLAYERS IN MPSF TOP RANKINGS — Travis Stachowski remained No. 3 for goals against average (15 goals, 6.27 goals against average) for the second week.. For scoring leaders, Adam Hewko continued to be No. 7 (37 goals, 1.95 per game), J.P. MacDonell is No. 10 (39 goals, 1.77 per game), Caleb Hamilton moved up two spots to No. 13 (20 goals, 1.54 per game) and moving up one spot to No. 24 is Grant Miller (28 goals, 1.33 per game). Clayton Snyder is back on the list at No. 25 (28 goals (1.27 per game). For team points, Pepperdine moved up to No. 3 (295 goals, 11.80 per game). The Waves remain ranked No. 4 for team goalkeeping (225 saves, 180 game average, 7.20 goals against average).
NEW PHOTOS IN GALLERY — Pictures from the Pacific game (Oct. 20) 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.
UP NEXT — Pepperdine hosts Long Beach State on Saturday, Nov. 3, at 12 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.
