Waves Upset UCLA in six OT Thriller

MALIBU, Calif. Â In one of the longest matches ever played in the history of Pepperdine water polo, the No. 7 Pepperdine men’s water polo team beat No. 3 UCLA in six overtime periods Saturday at UCLA 7-6.

In a highly competitive match that saw Pepperdine up by two goals (6-4) with less than two minutes left in the second overtime, the Bruins tied the game (6-6) to force sudden death overtime Three periods went without a goal by either team, when in the fourth period Waves junior Matt MacDonell (Redwood City, Calif. / Bellarmine HS) scored the winning goal with 1:12 left in the sixth overtime.

“The momentum of our team has changed when we really needed it,” said head coach Jack Kocur “With the MPSF Championships next week, we have proven to ourselves that we can compete for a national championship. Beating UCLA in Bruin water is huge for us.”

Pepperdine trailed UCLA until the third quarter when freshman Caleb Hamilton (Irvine, Calif. / Northwood HS) tied the game 3-3 with 7:18 left. The Bruins responded with a goal on it’s next possession 4-3. Junior Adam Hewko (Irvine, Calif. / Servite HS) tied the match once again with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif. / Newport HS) netted a goal with 41 seconds remaining in the first overtime on a man-up opportunity 5-4. With 2:24 remaining in the second overtime, sophomore J.P. MacDonell (Redwood City, Calif. / Bellarmine HS) scored on a steal and an assist by junior Matt Digges (Coronado, Calif. / Coronado HS) to give the Waves a two goal lead 6-4.  With 52 seconds remaining, UCLA’s sophomore Tyler Jemmett scored and teammate Scott Davidson fired the goal that would tie the game with five seconds left on the clock.

After two regulation overtimes the game went to sudden-death with neither team scoring in the third, fourth and fifth periods. Victory for the Waves came after nearly 2 Â½ hours with Matt MacDonell’s game winning goal making the final score 7-6.

“Our bench and our fans really kept us going,” said Matt MacDonell “We were so tired that we were just running on adrenaline. UCLA beat us in overtime at the NorCal tournament earlier this season and I didn’t want that to happen again.”

Showing incredible stamina and recording 18 saves was sophomore goalkeeper Travis Stachowksi (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Foothill HS).

“Both my sisters played water polo for UCLA, so this was the first time I got to play in the same water,” said Stachowski. “I felt like I had to come out here and show them up.”

For seniors Dorian Beaney (Lake Forest, Calif. / El Toro HS) and Nick Corjon (LaVerne, Calif. / Bonita HS), the victory was extra sweet as they have never beaten UCLA in their collegiate careers. Matt MacDonell expressed his desire to beat the Bruins with Beaney and Corjon on the team.

“It was great finally beating them. They have always been in the top four in the nation and one of the few teams we had never beaten. We look forward to facing them again in the MPSF Tournament,” said Corjon.

PEPPERDINE VS. UCLA 7-6

              1            2              3         4      OT    2OT     3OT    4OT    5OT    6OT       F

PEPP     0            1              1         2        1        1        0          0         0         1         7

UCLA     1            2              0        1         0        2        0          0         0         0         6

PEPPERDINE GOALS: Brett Auer, Caleb Hamilton, Adam Hewko, JP MacDonell, Andrew Milcovich, Grant Miller, Matt MacDonell.

 

PEPPERDINE SAVES: Travis Stachowski (18).

 

UCLA GOALS: Scott Davidson (3), Tyler Jemmett, Ben Hohl, Krsto Sbutega.

 

UCLA SAVES: Chay Lapin (13).

Related News

Footer