LOS ANGELES, Calif. – United States men’s water polo head coach Terry Schroeder named two former Pepperdine water polo players to the 2008 Olympic Team, Monday morning (June 30) at a press conference, at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

 

Merrill Moses (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) will be the goalkeeper for the 2008 team. Moses was selected MVP at the 1997 NCAA championships, where he backstopped Pepperdine to sudden death, 8-7 victory over No.1 ranked USC in the final. Moses earned All-American honors in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Moses was the starting goalkeeper at the 2007 FINA World Championships, where the U.S. finished 9th. He led the U.S. keepers with 30 saves as the team qualified for Beijing by winning the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.

 

2005 Pepperdine graduate Jesse Smith (Kailua, HI), was a three-time All-American at Pepperdine, earning first-team honors in 2004.  Smith played for current U.S. head coach and Pepperdine graduate Terry Schroeder. In 2004, Smith was the youngest player on the U.S. Olympic water polo team at the Athens Games. He scored nine goals for the United States, including three in America’s final match of the tournament (a win against Italy.) The former Pepperdine standout plays 2-meter defender.

 

Schroeder, also a three-time All-American at Pepperdine, assumed the head coaching duties for the Waves prior to the 1986 season. The 2008 U.S.A. head water polo coach directed Pepperdine to a cumulative 20-year record of 340-220 and eight NCAA Championship berths. Schroeder served as a team captain for the U.S. National Team from 1983-92 and brought home a silver medal at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.