LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A disappointing 14-8 loss to UC Irvine on Sunday morning, ended the Pepperdine men's water polo team's 2009 season with a sixth place finish at the MPSF Championships.
Freshman Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) and senior Preston Lujan (Coronado, Calif./Coronado HS) led the Waves offense with two goals. Freshman goalkeeper Tommy O'Connell (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) recorded six saves for Pepperdine, while junior Bryce McLain (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Beach HS) was tabbed with three.
A strong Anteater offense took control of the first period with a four-goal run ending at 4:28 with Irvine leading 4-0. White scored the Waves first goal with 3:21 left in the period followed by an Anteater goal by Tom Kruip with 2:59 on the clock. The Waves ended the first period trailing at 5-1.
Travis Gough (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS) led off the second period with a 6-on-5 goal at 6:37. Kruip answered back with an Anteater goal at 6:15 and the Irvine was leading 6-2. The Waves scored three more goals on man-up opportunities, while Irvine scored two more. Pepperdine was down by three at the half at 8-5.
The Waves came out in the third period looking sluggish and having trouble with shooting. Although, Clayton Snyder (Seal Beach, Calif./ Los Alamitos HS) scored an early goal on a six-on-five opportunity to narrow the lead by two at 8-6, the Anteaters went on a three-goal scoring run to finish the period up at 11-6.
Fourth period saw Pepperdine try to catch Irvine after an Anteater goal at 7:29. Lujan scored his second goal of the game at 7:02, followed by a man-up goal by senior Brett Auer (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Beach HS) to put the Waves with in four goals of Irvine at 12-8. The Anteaters took advantage of two Pepperdine ejections by scoring the final two goals of the game and sealing their victory at 14-8, when the final buzzer sounded.
GAME 10 - 5th Place
UC Irvine def. Pepperdine - 14-8
PEP 1 - 4 - 1 - 2 = 8
UCI 5 - 3 - 3 - 3 = 14
SCORING:
PEP - White 2, Lujan 2, Auer, Milcovich, Gough, Snyder.
UCI - K. Kruip 3, Bielskis 3, Baxter 2. Frank 2, B. Johnson 2, Lerman, T. Kruip
SAVES: O'Connell (PEP) 6, McLain (PEP) 3, Evered (UCI) 7.
