Men's Water Polo Hosts Pacific This Week
10/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
This Week: The No. 9 Pepperdine men's water polo team hosts one game this week, taking on No. 2 Pacific on Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup.
Game #21: Saturday (October 31) at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (11-9, 1-3) vs. Pacific (19-2, 5-0) at 12 p.m.
Follow: The Waves' home game this week will be broadcast live on WaveCasts, with a link available at PepperdineSports.com. Also follow @PeppWaterPolo on Twitter for updates.
Last Week: The Waves played a pair of games at home last week, going 1-1. Pepperdine opened with a win over Concordia, 15-8, before falling in sudden death overtime to Long Beach State, 11-10.
Coming Up: The Waves head towards the home stretch of the 2015 season, with their last five games all being MPSF matchups. Pepperdine has one home game after this week and three road games.
Waves in the Rankings: The Waves checked in at No. 9 in the most recent CWPA Rankings. It is the seventh straight week that the Waves have come in at No. 9 in the coaches poll.
The Roster: The Waves return 11 players from last year's squad. Pepperdine brings two players off of red-shirt years this season as well. The Waves brought in a total of 11 new faces this offseason, seven of which have made the team's travel roster for the first weekend of play.
The Schroeder File: Water polo icon Terry Schroeder returned in 2013 for his second tour of duty as the Pepperdine men's water polo head coach. In his first stint with Pepperdine (1986-2005) he amassed 340 wins and a national championship in 1997. The head coach for USA Water Polo at the last two Olympics, Schroeder has been inducted into the Capital One Academic All-America Hall of Fame (2013), International Swimming Hall of Fame (2005), U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame (1998) and the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame (1985). He has a career record of 360-248 and is the winningest coach in program history.
The Moses File: Two-time U.S. Olympian (2008, 2012) and former Pepperdine All-American Merrill Moses returns for the 2015 season as an assistant. A 2013 inductee into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame, Moses led the United States to a gold medal at the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games. Moses also led the Waves to the 1997 national championship where they captured their first title.
About Pepperdine: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 25 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
