Sept. 5, 2010
Photo Gallery 
MALIBU, Calif. - Seven goals from sophomores James Perry and Danny White - combined with a suffocating defensive effort - propelled the No. 8 Pepperdine men's water polo team to a season-opening 14-4 win over Claremont Sunday at Raleigh Runnels memorial pool.
Perry's (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte HS) four goals established a new career high, while White (Oxnard, Calif./Rio Mesa HS) tied his personal best with three. White's last hat trick came against Pacific during last season's MPSF Tournament.
The win lifted Pepperdine's record to 1-0, while the Stags dropped to 0-2. Claremont lost 15-3 earlier in the day to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara.
After exchanging five goals through the game's first eight possessions, the Waves' defense forced three turnovers and six blocks from late in the first quarter all the way through the second as they extended their one goal lead at 3-2 to a 7-2 halftime advantage. Two of those saves recorded by senior Bryce McLain, came during 6-on-5 advantages for the Stags.
McLain finished the first half with five stops.
Claremont, overall, was successful on just four-of-nine power plays, with two of those coming early in the first quarter.
Pepperdine, on the other hand, was a perfect three-for-three when left with the extra man and scored two additional penalty goals by Perry and White in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
White got into the game defensively as well, stealing a ball that led to sophomore Spencer Hamby (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) scoring the first goal of the second quarter. Then the Waves scored on back-to-back possessions thanks to blinding shots by Jake Schrimpf (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) and Perry for a second time.
In the second half, Claremont was introduced to freshman goalkeeper Bence Valics (Eger, Hungary/Szilagyi Erzsebet Secondary), who displayed some aggressive tactics in the goalmouth and came through with two steals and five saves. And the two goals he did allow came during penalty kills. His most impressive stop was a stretch save on Greg Mann's fourth-quarter shot toward the top shelf.
Valics also was helped by seven second-half scores. Golden West transfer Nathan Castillo (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS), Perry and freshman Nick Cooper (Clayton, Calif./De La Salle HS) all rattled the cage in the third quarter, and then White scored the first two points of the fourth, followed by Perry again, and sophomore Matt Brown (Bellevue, Wash./Brown Academy).
"It took some time, but we finally started to fire on all cylinders by the last game," head coach Jack Kocur said. "Our victory was a good note to end the day on and now we're going to look back at the game tapes and figure out what we need to improve before we face LMU."
Pepperdine will play host to its rival this coming Saturday, Sept. 11 at noon, which will be the first head-to-head contest between schools in the second-annual PCH Challenge Cup Series. The Waves and Lions split last season's series at one game each.
Also next weekend, Pepperdine will travel to the University of La Verne for the Inland Empire Tournament for games against Concordia, Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer.
Earlier Sunday, Pepperdine beat Golden West JC, 16-5 in an exhibition game. Perry and Brown led the Waves with three goals each, while goalkeepers Jonathan Flowers (Honolulu, Hawaii/Mid-Pacific Institute) and Matthew Carter (Princeton, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) combined for six stops.
No. 8 Pepperdine 14, Claremont 4
Team 1 2 3 4 Final
Claremont (0-2): 2 0 1 1 4
Pepperdine (1-0): 4 3 3 4 14
Goals
Claremont: Mann (2), Chong, Lee
Pepperdine: Perry (4), White (3), Castillo (2), Bergeson, Brown, Cooper, Hamby, Schrimpf
Saves
Claremont: Wasserman (9)
Pepperdine: McLain (5), Valics (5)
6-on-5 Opportunities
Claremont: 4/9
Pepperdine: 3/3
