MALIBU, Calif. - Eight Pepperdine men's water polo seniors celebrated their last home game with a 9-8 win over No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon at The Raleigh-Runnels Memorial Pool.

"It was a great day for the seniors today," said head coach Jack Kocur. "We lost to Santa Barbara the two times we played them earlier in the season, so it meant a lot to the team to win this one. The team has been improving with each game and the seniors have been a major part of that success. We will carry that momentum into the MPSF Tournament next week."

The Gaucho's (12-14, 1-7) Milos Golic was the game high-scorer with four goals. JP MacDonell (Redwood, Calif./Bellarmine Prep.) and Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Beach HS) each had three goals for the Waves (12-10, 4-4). UCSB's Fraser Bunn had eight saves in the goal, while Tommy O'Connell (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) notched seven saves.

Joe Wood recorded the first goal of the game on a Gaucho power play at 7:32.  MacDonell made a five-meter penalty shot with 7:12 left in the period. UCSB's Joe Plume answered back with a goal at 6:12. The Gaucho's led 2-1.

Auer tied the game at 2-2 with a 6-on-5 goal at 4:29. However, Noah Smith came back with a  Gaucho goal at 4:01 to give UCSB the lead once again at 3-2. Andrew Milcovich (Walnut Creek, Calif./De La Salle HS) took advantage of another 6-on-5 opportunity with a goal at 1:36 to tie the game once again at 3-3. With six seconds left in the period, Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) scored the final goal to give the Wave a 4-3 lead when the period ended

The second period saw strong defense on both teams with only one goal recorded for each team.  Auer scored on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 4:00 left in the half. Smith responded with a man-up goal for the Gaucho's with 25 seconds on the clock. The Waves led 5-4 at the half.

MacDonell opened the third period with shot in the cage at 7:35. A series of Santa Barbara ejections and a five meter penalty shot by White at 5:45, gave Pepperdine a 7-4 lead. Auer added another goal at 3:26, while Milos Golic made the final goal of the period for the Gauchos with 2:45 on the clock. Pepperdine was up 8-5.

Fourth period saw a strong surge by the Gaucho's as MacDonell scored the only goal of the period for Pepperdine at 5:18. Golic's shot on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 5:00 left in the game followed by another goal at 2:43, put UCSB within two goals of the Waves at 9-7. Golic scored the final goal of the game with 52 seconds left on the clock, but it wasn't enough to catch the Waves. When the buzzer sounded Pepperdine led 9-8.

Next up, the Waves travel to USC on Nov. 27-29 for the MPSF Conference Tournament.

#5 PEPPERDINE 9  #9 UC SANTA BARBARA 8

                           1        2        3        4   

PEP                    4        1        3        1    9

UCSB                 3        1        1        3    8

PEP GOALS ( JP MacDonell 3, B. Auer 3, D. White 2, A. Milcovich 1) 9

UCSB Goals (M. Golic 4, N. Smith 2, J. Wood 1, J. Plume 1) 8

GOALKEEPER SAVES: (T. O'Connell (PEP) 7, F. Bunn (UCSB) 8)