Waves Edge Santa Barbara,10-9

ISLA VISTA, Calif. Â Andrew Milcovich led the Pepperdine men’s water polo team to a 10-9 victory over No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, Sunday afternoon, at the UCSB Campus Pool.

“We had a great week of practice and great start to the game,” said Assistant Pepperdine Coach Gary O'Brien. “A few things didn’t go our way in the second-half, but we rallied in the end. It was a great MPSF win.”

No. 5 Pepperdine (18-6, 5-2)posted a strong first-half scoring seven goals to the Gaucho’s five. However, Santa Barbara (15-10, 4-4) came on strong in the second-half to tie the game with 2:26 left on the clock. Adam Hewko (Irvine, Calif./Servite HS) scored the game winning goal. Milcovich (Walnut Creek, Calif./ De La Salle HS) scored three goals for the Waves, while Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif./ Newport Beach HS) and Grant Miller (La Verne, Calif./ La Verne HS) scored two each.

“We came out hard...we knew it was a big game and we knew what to expect,” said Milcovich. “Our practice prepared us to play in the shallow end and we were really strong on our 6-on-5 opportunities today.”

The Santa Barbara pool is set up so each team plays half the game in a 5-ft. shallow end. 

The Waves jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first period with Milcovich answering back to an early Gaucho goal by Michael Michado. An injured Miller added two more goals.

Both team scored four goals in the second period to give the Waves a two goal lead going into the second-half.

Santa Barbara played a strong third period outscoring Pepperdine 3-to-2. The period ended with the Pepperdine leading by one goal at 9-8.

Fourth period began with a Gaucho goal to tie the match at 9-9. A large Santa Barbara crowd cheered the hometown team on, but the Waves had a fan base of their own and both teams fought for the winning goal.

Hewko settled the outcome of the match with a shot in the cage with 2:26 left in the match. A tough Wave defense prevented the Gaucho’s from scoring and the Waves finished, 10-9.

 

PEPPERDINE vs. UC SANTA BARBARA 10-9

                           1     2     3     4

PEPP                  3    4     2     1    10

UCSB                 1     4     3     1    9

PEPP GOALS: (Andrew Milcovich 3, Grant Miller 2, Brett Auer 2, Adam Hewko 1, Blake Hubbell 1, J.P. MacDonell 1).

GOALIE SAVES: (John Hahn 8)

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