IRVINE, Calif. - Day one of the 2009 SoCal Invitational ended with a 11-9 win over #9 UC Irvine and a 13-3 loss to #1 Stanford for the #7 Pepperdine men's water polo team.

The Waves met Irvine in the first game of the day and got off to a strong start with a 7-3 lead at the half. Co-captain J.P. MacDonell (Redwood City, Calif./Bellarmine Prep) scored three goals in the first quarter and one in the second. Senior Christian Cardey (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly HS) was responsible for two goals in the half, while junior Preston Lujan (Coronado, Calif./Coronado HS) added one goal.

The Anteaters fought back in the third quarter scoring four goals to Pepperdine's two with the score at 9-7. MacDonell scored his fifth goal of the game, while senior Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif./ Newport Beach HS) scored the second goal of the third quarter.The fourth quarter continued to be a battle Irvine scoring back to back goals early in the quarter with the game tied at 9-9. With 5:17 remaining in the game senior Jacob Young (Saratoga, Calif./Valley Christian HS) netted a goal to put the Waves back on top at 10-9. Teammate Taylor Watson (Alamo, Calif./Monte Vita HS) scored the final goal of the game with 3:02 on the clock to give Pepperdine an 11-9 victory.

The Waves took on the top team in the nation in the afternoon. Stanford came out with a vengeance and scored three goals in the first five minutes of the game. The first goal being a 5-meter penalty shot with 7:39 on the clock. Pepperdine trailed 3-0 with 3:38 left in the period. With 3:24 remaining in the quarter co-captain Clayton Snyder (Seal Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) scored the Waves first goal. Cardey added a second goal on a 6-on-5 opportunity to end the quarter at 4-2.

Stanford outscored Pepperdine 3-0 in the second quarter to end the half with the Waves trailing, 7-2.

The Waves switched goalies at the half with junior Bryce McLain (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport HS) manning the cage for the remainder of the game. The Cardinal came out strong and once again prevented the Pepperdine offense from scoring while adding five goals to their lead. The third quarter ended with the Waves down by their biggest margin of the season at 12-3.

The fourth quarter opened with a shot in the net by redshirt freshman Matt Brown (Bellevue, Wash./Brown Academy. Stanford matched it with a goal of their own with 5:43 remaining in the game and a final score of 13-3.

The Waves play on Sunday at 8 a.m. against an opponent TBA.

#7 PEPPERDINE 11 #9 UC IRVINE 9

                      1        2        3        4

PEP               4        3        2        2     11

UCI                2        1        4        2     9

PEP GOALS: (JP MacDonell 5, C. Cardey 2, P. Lujan 1, T. Watson 1, M. Young 1, B. Auer 1,)

UCI GOALS: (T. Kruip 3, Lerman 1, Bielsties, 2, T. Baxter 1, B. Johnson 1, Enloe 1)

Goalie Saves: ( T. O'Connell (PEP) 6, J. Johnson (UCI) 9)

#7 PEPPERDINE 3 #1 STANFORD 13

                      1        2        3        4

PEP               2        0        0       1     3

STANFORD  4       3         5       1     13

PEP GOALS: (M. Brown, C. Snyder 1 C. Cardey 1,)

STANFORD GOALS: (D. Wigo 4, J. Wigo 2, R. McCarthy 2, S. Plashon 1, J. Schwimmer 1, A. LaForge 1, J. Smith 1, P. Rudolph 1)

Goalie Saves: ( T. O'Connell (PEP) 1, B. McLain (PEP) 5, J. Sandman (Stanford) 10)