Oct. 3, 2010
LOS ANGELES, Calif.- Pepperdine's ninth-ranked water polo team lost two games by a combined three goals during a tough second day of competition Sunday at the 2010 SoCal Tournament hosted by UCLA.
A three-goal fourth quarter lifted No. 13 UC San Diego to an 8-7 triumph in the third-round, and in the afternoon's 11th-place game, No. 14 Santa Clara held on for a 12-10 victory. The two defeats dropped Pepperdine's record to below .500 for the first time all season at 7-8.
Sophomore Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) and redshirt junior Travis Gough (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS) led the Waves offensively with five goals each.
Freshman Bence Valics (Eger, Hungary/Erzesbet Secondary) started the first game in goal for Pepperdine, accumulating eight saves, two steals and an assist. Senior Bryce McLain (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Beach HS) took the loss in game two despite making five saves and creating two turnovers.
Pepperdine dives back into MPSF conference play this Saturday, Oct. 9 with a noon home game vs. UC Irvine at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. The Anteaters defeated the Waves, 16-10, earlier this season at the NorCal Tournament.
UC San Diego Game Recap
The Tritons entered the final quarter down 6-5, but received a pair of soft-touch goals from Bryce Madsen and John Butler to reclaim the lead at 7-5. Bryce Donohoe then provided the eventual game winner with 51 seconds remaining, firing a shot that rose above freshman goalkeeper Bence Valics (Eger, Hungary/Erzesbet Secondary).
Valics finished the game with eight saves - some of them nothing short of brilliant - especially the stop he made on Madsen's second-quarter breakaway, in which he stretched to his highest point to intercept a loft shot. Valics also saved three 6-on-5 attempts as UCSD finished the day 0-for-6 with the extra-man advantage.
Unfortunately, Valics' vertical reaches only so high and the Triton's first two goals of the final quarter just missed his fingertips. On its second possession that frame, UCSD got the ball into Donohoe at two meters where he first juggled the ball before getting just enough lift behind it to tie the game at 6-6.
Three possessions later, Butler scored a go-ahead goal after receiving the ball on the far side and pushing it over the head of a defender and Valics inside the near post.
Pepperdine scored its lone goal of the fourth quarter with .07 seconds left on sophomore Spencer Hamby's (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) desperation Hail Mary shot that bounced past Triton goalkeeper David Morton near the far post. Hamby was one of three Waves to score twice vs. the Tritons along with classmate Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) and redshirt junior Travis Gough (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS).
The Waves scored five of their seven goals in the third quarter after making adjustments to their offensive strategy, and twice grabbed lead during the see-saw battle. Hamby and sophomore James Perry (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte HS) both were successful within two-meter range, while White notched a penalty shot that put the Waves ahead at 5-4. Then, after UCSD's Graham Saber blasted in his own five-meter penalty shot, Gough put Pepperdine ahead for the last time on a score with 56 seconds remaining.
Morton got a hand on Gough's first shot of the third quarter, but couldn't completely stop the ball as it continued on its path into the side netting.
Pepperdine's first goal was scored by White from four meters back, which tied the game at 1-1 late in the first quarter. But afterward, the Waves failed to score on their next 10 possessions and entered halftime down 3-1.
Morton finished the game with six saves, half of which were made in the second quarter. He also benefitted that period from a blocked shot, three turnovers and a shot clock violation.
The Triton's Dane Sequeira scored the game's lone second quarter goal after driving past a defender to deliver his shot into the right corner.
No. 13 UC San Diego 8, No. 9 Pepperdine 7
Goals
Pepperdine: Travis Gough (2), Spencer Hamby (2), Danny White (2), James Perry
UC San Diego: Brian Donohoe (2), Bryce Madsen (2), Dane Sequeira, Ryan Allred, Graham Saber, John Butler
Saves
Pepperdine: Bence Valics (8)
UC San Diego: David Morton (6)
Six-on-Five Advantages
Pepperdine: 2/4
UC San Diego: 0/6
Score By Quarters 1 2 3 4 Final
Pepperdine 1 0 5 1 7
UC San Diego 2 1 2 3 8
Santa Clara Game Recap
Pepperdine scored three goals in rapid-fire succession to begin the third quarter, whittling a four-goal halftime deficit of 8-4 down to one, but the Waves couldn't keep up their pace and the No. 14 Santa Clara Broncos escaped the Sunset Valley Recreation Center pool at UCLA with a 12-10 victory.
Santa Clara won the ball to begin the second half, but redshirt junior Travis Gough (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS) pressed for a steal and took the ball back the other direction for an unassisted score from the right side.
The Broncos immediately called time out, but it helped little as senior goalkeeper Bryce McLain (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Beach HS) followed with a theft of his own, which led to a Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) score from seven meters away. Then, on the ensuing Santa Clara possession, sophomore James Perry (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte HS) picked off a pass that eventually led to sophomore Stephen Loomis' (Moraga, Calif./Campolindo HS) unobstructed diagonal that bounced inside the far post and cut the Bronco lead to 8-7.
The Waves were firing on all cylinders and had Santa Clara on the verge of collapse, but an unfortunate exclusion call on White gave the Broncos the second wind they needed to pull back ahead. SCU converted its third six-on-five opportunity at that point to regain some breathing room at 9-7 before scoring twice more in the third quarter, while defensively it held Pepperdine scoreless over its next eight possessions.
The Waves scored the final goal of the third period - a shot by Gough that made it an 11-8 game - but they fell short of quality chances to complete a fourth-quarter comeback.
Pepperdine did get back within one point at 11-10 midway through the final frame, but after Loomis scored his second goal of the half, the Broncos earned Perry an ill-timed exclusion and promptly converted their fourth extra-man goal in nine chances.
The Waves had four looks at the net after SCU went up by two, but Bronco goalkeeper Michael Wishart made two saves and a steal, and his defenders blocked a shot in the hole despite being down a man.
Wishart finished the game with 13 saves, six of which game in the first quarter. After Pepperdine freshman Jake Schrimpf (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) notched a misdirection goal, in which he fooled the SCU goalkeeper and gave his team a short-lived 2-1 lead, Wishart responded with four saves on the Waves' last four possessions of the frame.
Santa Clara scored twice in the first quarter while McLain was free from the net, trying to assist on steals, and then rattled off six second-quarter goals on 10 possessions to put the game largely out of reach heading into halftime.
No. 14 Santa Clara 12, No. 9 Pepperdine 10
Goals
Pepperdine: Travis Gough (3), Danny White (3), Stephen Loomis (2), James Perry, Jake Schrimpf
Santa Clara: Nick Poggetti (2), James Case (2), Jimmy Moore (2), Stephen Hobbs, Patrick Weiss, Mitch Klipa, Tucker Carlson, Kyle Nadel, David Guibord
Saves
Pepperdine: Bryce McLain (5)
Santa Clara: Michael Wishart (13)
Six-on-Five Advantages
Pepperdine: 1/6
Santa Clara: 4/9
Score By Quarters 1 2 3 4 Final
Pepperdine 2 2 4 2 10
Santa Clara 2 6 3 1 12
