Oct. 27, 2010
Wave Casts | Ticket Information
MALIBU, Calif.- The 10th-ranked Pepperdine men's water polo team reaches the end of its October schedule this weekend with a pair of exciting MPSF conference match-ups against No. 8 Long Beach State and top-ranked Cal.
The Waves (8-11, 0-4 MPSF) will face the 49ers (7-8, 0-2) Friday night at Long Beach at 7 p.m., and then come home to battle the Bears (13-2, 2-0) at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool Sunday at 1 p.m. The Cal game marks the final home game for senior goalkeeper Bryce McLain (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Beach HS) and possibly the last one for redshirt junior Travis Gough (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS).
Head coach Jack Kocur said he'll play McLain in the cage for the entire game and is excited to see his senior face the nation's best team.
"Bryce is a great leader on this club," he said, "and has always displayed a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and spirit toward his teammates whether he was in the pool or on the bench."
McLain has appeared in 10 games this season, collecting 60 saves on top of 13 steals. He also played a major role in Pepperdine's 8-7 sudden-death victory over Loyola Marymount at the NorCal Tournament, stopping a season and career-high 17 shots.
"It's going to be sad to leave this place, but I'm just want to go out and have as much fun as I can with my teammates against Cal," McLain said. "The Bears are a strong rival and they're a great team to face in my final home game … I just hope our guys play together cohesively and take it to them."
Gough has one year of eligibility remaining but is also on track to graduate this spring with a degree in advertising. And while nothing official has been decided for sure, Kocur made it clear he wants his starting attacker back for one more go-around in 2011.
"Travis has come a long way over his career in embracing team-first concepts and that's shown in his play this season as he's continually scored big goals and provided the big assists in crucial games," he said. "I would love it if he decided to come back and be another strong leader for us, but I also know that he'll have lots of great options to choose from once he graduates."
Gough's numbers this season have been nothing short of impressive as he's accumulated 17 goals, a team-best 24 assists and 30 steals through 17 games.
Pepperdine is facing Long Beach and Cal each for the second time this season and dropped both previous meetings. The Waves lost at Cal in September during the second round of the NorCal Tournament, and suffered a heartbreaking 8-7 overtime decision to the 49ers in the opening match of the SoCal Tournament.
Long Beachis the only other winless team in the conference next to Pepperdine and a victory by either club Friday could eventually determine who advances to the eight-team conference tournament at the end of November. The Waves have already faced four of the top-six teams in the MPSF, while the 49ers have endured consecutive one-goal defeats to fourth-place UC Irvine and seventh-place UC Santa Barbara.
Cal, meanwhile, is on top of the MPSF at 2-0 and has won five straight in lifting its overall record to 13-2.
Although picking up conference victories vs. Long Beach and Cal would be major steps in getting Pepperdine qualified for the postseason, Kocur wants his team and staff to treat this weekend's games just like any other.
"We can't go into these games with big expectations," he said. "We just have to go in and play to the best of our abilities, and if we do that, then we'll be satisfied with whatever happens. This team has looked very comfortable in practice as of late. There is no longer an overriding pressure or fear of failure as we've been going out there having fun and playing our game. We've been accepting all moments as they come to us."
Sunday's home game vs. No. 1 Cal will be broadcast for free via WaveCasts at pepperdinesports.com.
