Sept. 15, 2010
NorCal Water Polo Tournament Central | PCH Challenge Scoreboard
MALIBU, Calif.- The nationally ranked Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount men's water polo teams will clash for the second time in a week this Saturday morning at Cal's Spieker Aquatics Complex during the first round of the 2010 NorCal Tournament.
The regional rivals play at 9:20 a.m. and are part of Bracket A which also consists of the No. 1 Bears and Pomona-Pitzer.
Like last week's battle at Malibu's Raleigh Runnels pool, this contest too will count toward the overall standings in the PCH Challenge Series. But only one point will be up for grabs since this game takes place at a neutral location. LMU leads the series in its early stages 1.5 - 0 following its 7-6 road victory, which was the Lions' first ever at Pepperdine.
Sophomore Danny White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) said he's glad to be facing LMU so quickly after last week's loss left the team feeling bitter.
"I think playing them so soon after a tough loss is going to be good for us and I'm excited about the rematch," he said. "We came out with great energy last week at home, but made some unfortunate mental errors. Luckily, all of that's correctable and it's good to get those mistakes out of the way this early in the season."
Pepperdine responded to its razor-thin defeat with three convincing victories at the Inland Empire Tournament at the University of La Verne. The Waves outscored the likes of Concordia, Occidental and Pomona Pitzer 41-12 and their goalkeeper rotation of senior Bryce McLain (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Beach HS), freshman Bence Valics (Eger Hungary/Szilagyi Erzsebet Secondary) and sophomores Matthew Carter (Princeton, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) and Jonathan Flowers (Honolulu, Hawaii/Mid-Pacific Institute) never allowed more than four goals per game.
Valics had a particularly strong showing against Pomona, blocking eight of nine extra-man shots and two more inside the five-meter line.
On offense, 18 different Waves took turns rattling the cage, including many who play outside the starting lineup. Freshman Jake Schrimpf (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) scored a season-high five goals in the 20-4 win over Occidental, while fellow rookie Nick Cooper (Clayton, Calif./De La Salle HS) blasted the net four times vs. Pomona.
Cooper and White shared the team lead with two goals in Pepperdine's 9-4 triumph over Concordia.
"The Inland Empire Tournament was a lot of fun," White said, "because we got to fine tune some of our basic formations while playing on different rotations. It was good to see everyone get a chance to play."
The competition Pepperdine will face at NorCal won't be as forgiving as 15 of 16 teams were ranked in last week's CWPA Top 20 poll. Brackets A and D will play Saturday's matches at Cal, while Brackets B and C compete at Diablo Valley College in nearby Pleasant Hill.
Bracket B includes No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 Pacific, No. 10 Long Beach State and No. 19 Air Force.
Bracket C has No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, No. 11 UC San Diego and No. 15 UC Davis.
Bracket D features No. 4 USC, No. 5 UC Irvine, No. 13 Santa Clara and No. 14 Navy.
If the Waves prevail, they would play the winner of Cal and Pomona-Pitzer at 2:40 p.m. And if Pepperdine wins both of its matches Saturday, it would play at 12 p.m. the next day versus the winner of Bracket D in the tournament semifinals.
The tournament championship is scheduled for Sunday at 5:20 p.m.
"I really hope we get to face Cal," White said. "They're the No. 1 team in the country, but I think we can match up well with them and perhaps the rest of the field if we bring our A game."
A 2010 NorCal Invitational tournament page with additional information and results will be available on the men's water polo page on CalBears.com.
Information from CalBears.com was used in this release.
