No. 5 Waves Upset No. 2 UCLA
11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
With 14 inner-city children from Chance for Children cheering them on with signs and the bleachers packed with family, friends and local fans, the Waves finished their regular season with a win at home. Their MPSF record is 6-2, with an overall record of 19-5.
Five seniors were honored prior to the game for their outstanding contributions to the water polo program. Not surprisingly, all five were an integral part of a huge win for the Waves. Grant Miller (
Junior J.P. MacDonell (
The Waves came out fighting taking advantage of Bruin ejections by scoring four of their six goals on six-on-five opportunities.
UCLA’s Krsto Sbutega scored the first goal of the match at 7:19. Miller answered back with a shot in the cage at 6:15 on the Waves first six-on-five opportunity. Mat MacDonell) scored the second goal for the Waves on another extra man opportunity. Sbutega scored his second goal of the match at 4:16 to tie the score 2-2. J.P. MacDonell finished the period with a goal to give the Pepperdine a one goal lead at 3-2.
Pepperdine continued its momentum into the second period with two more goals by J.P. MacDonell and another Miller goal. Defense held the Bruins to one goal and the Waves were up by three at the half with a score of 6-3.
Third period saw both teams putting forth a strong defensive effort with Miller scoring his third goal of the match at 6:26 and UCLA’s Cullen Hennessey putting one in the cage for the Bruins with 58 seconds left on the clock.
The Waves continued their charge into the final period with a goal at 5:55 by Hewko. The Bruins came back to score on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 3:30 left on the clock. Mat MacDonell shot the final goal of the match with 14 seconds left on the clock to give the Waves their second consecutive MPSF victory over UCLA.
Next up for the Waves is the MPSF Conference Tournament, to be held Nov. 28-30, at Pepperdine’s Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
Pepperdine vs. UCLA 9-5
1 2 3 4
Pepp 3 3 1 2 9
UCLA 2 1 1 1 5
Pepperdine Goals: (Grant Miller 3, J.P. MacDonell 3, Mat MacDonell 2, Adam Hewko 1) 9
UCLA Goals: (Krsto Sbutega 2, Cullen Hennessey 1, Chris Allen 1, Jacob Murphy 1) 5
Goalkeeper Saves: John Hahn (Pepperdine) 12, Chay Lapin UCLA 4
