Pepperdine University
UC Irvine
Waves Close SoCal Tournament With Win
10/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The No. 12 Pepperdine men's water polo team came up with a late goal against No. 11 UC Davis to finish the second day of the SoCal Tournament 1-1.
The Waves dropped their opener to No. 9 UC Irvine, 16-9, and then got a 10-9 win in the late game over UC Davis courtesy of a late goal from Brock Liebhardt (Fremont, Calif./Washington HS).
The split gives Pepperdine a 2-2 record at the tournament hosted by UCLA and moves the Waves overall record to 8-8 on the year. Pepperdine split games against No. 6 UC Santa Barbara and No. 15 Air Force yesterday, also dropping the opener against the Gauchos before they came back to defeat Air Force.
The final game of the day was a back and forth affair between the Aggies and the Waves. Pepperdine took a 9-7 lead into the fourth period, but UC Davis would come back to tie it with less than a minute to play.
That's when Liebhardt broke the fourth-quarter scoreless streak for the Waves, firing home a shot with just nine seconds remaining on the clock to give the Waves the win.
The Waves used a 4-2 third quarter to build the two-goal lead, getting a score at the buzzer from Justin Cowan (Rossmoor, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) to make it 9-7.
Seven different Waves scored in the game, including a game-high three goals from Wesley Sherburne (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS).
Pepperdine tried to make a late comeback in the early game, but a late run by UC Irvine was too much for the Waves to respond to.
Pepperdine was down 11-6 heading into the fourth, but got goals from Jake Schrimpf (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) and Sherburne to pull within three with 4:36 to play. The Anteaters rattled off five-straight goals, however, putting the game out of reach for the Waves.
Schrimpf finished the opener with a team-best four goals.
Pepperdine will be back in action on Saturday when the team resumes MPSF play with a 12 p.m. road game at No. 5 Long Beach State.
UC Irvine def. Pepperdine, 16-9
UCI - 3 - 5 - 3 - 5
PEP - 2 - 3 - 1 - 3
PEP Scoring: Schrimpf 4, Keller 2, Sherburne 2, Olsen
UCI Scoring: Robertson 4, Milos 3, Skinner 2, Pfeil 2, Warde 2, Papa, Trush, Carballo.
PEP Saves: Rhodes 10
UCI Saves: Rivers 11
Pepperdine def. UC Davis, 10-9
PEP - 1 - 4 - 4 - 1
UCD - 2 - 3 - 2 - 2
PEP Scoring: Sherburne 3, Liebhardt 2, Schrimpf, Hewko, Olsen, Keller, Cowan
UCD Scoring: Wright 2, Nicholson, Vigeant, Richardson, Lincoln, Laidig, Grab, Ley
PEP Saves: Rhodes 10
UCD Saves: Creed 5
