Nov. 13, 2010
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The No. 10 Pepperdine men's water polo (9-14, 1-6 MPSF) team dropped a 13-8 decision to No. 4 UCLA (17-4, 5-2 MPSF) Saturday night at Spieker Aquatics Center despite receiving a game-high three goals from junior Rex Learmouth (Orange, Calif./Villa Park HS/Golden West College).
Pepperdine led 4-3 after the first quarter and went into the break tied at six, but the Bruins stormed back with a 4-0 scoring run early in the third period to take the lead for good.
The Bruins claimed the game's first lead, as Emilio Vieira scored on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 5:36 to play in the opening quarter. Pepperdine then strung together three consecutive goals to lead 3-1 with 2:37 left - from Spencer Hamby (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS), Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) on a power-play opportunity and Stephen Loomis (Moraga, Calif./Campolindo HS).
Travis Gough (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS) netted the Waves' fourth score of the quarter, but only after UCLA had tied the match at 3-3 at the 89 second mark, receiving consecutive 6-on-5 goals from Brett Hays and Griffin White.
The second quarter proved much the same as the first, as neither team was able to take a commanding lead. UCLA's Jacob Murphy scored from two meters on a backhand shot with 7:32 left in the first half, tying the game at 4-4. UCLA then grabbed a 6-4 lead after receiving goals from Chris Wendt on a power play and Clinton Jorth Pepperdine, however, quickly knotted the contest at 6-6 with goals from Gough and Learmouth.
UCLA opened the third quarter with four goals from as many players, and by the end of the game 12 different Bruins had accounted for their 13 goals. Josh Samuels led the home team with two scores.
Pepperdine freshman goalkeeper Bence Valics (Eger Hungary/Szilagyi Erzsebet Secondary) registered a game-leading 10 saves in the cage, while UCLA's Matt Rapacz and James Hartshorne combined to stop nine shots. Rapacz was replaced in the cage by the rookie Hartshorne at halftime.
The Waves conclude their regular season at No. 7 UC Santa Barbara next Saturday, Nov. 22 for a 1 p.m. game at UCSB's campus pool.
Information from UCLABruins.com was used in this report.
No. 4 UCLA 13, No. 10 Pepperdine 8
Team 1 2 3 4 F
No. 10 Pepperdine 4 2 1 1 8
No. 4 UCLA 3 3 4 3 13
Pepperdine Goals: Rex Learmouth 3, Travis Gough 2, Spencer Hamby, Stephen Loomis, Danny White
Pepperdine Saves: Bence Valics 10
UCLA Goals: Josh Samuels 2, Aimone Barabino, Brett Hays, Cullen Hennessy, Ben Hohl, Clay Jorth, Clinton Jorth, Cristiano Mirarchi, Jacob Murphy, Emilio Vieira, Chris Wendt, Griffin White
UCLA Saves: James Hartshorne 6, Matt Rapacz 3
