Waves Face Long Beach State, LMU
10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
This Week: The No. 8 Pepperdine men's water polo team plays a pair of games this week, heading to No. 6 Long Beach State for a Golden Coast Conference matchup and then hosting Loyola Marymount for a non-conference game on Saturday.
Game #17: Friday (October 14) at Lindgren Aquatics Center in Long Beach, Calif.: No. 8 Pepperdine (9-7, 0-1) vs. No. 6 Long Beach State (9-5, 0-0) at 7 p.m.
Game #18: Saturday (October 15) at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu, Calif.: No. 8 Pepperdine (9-7) vs. Loyola Marymount (6-8) at 5 p.m.
Follow: Friday's game at Long Beach State will have live stats available on longbeachstate.com. Saturday's home game will be streamed live on WaveCasts presented by Campus Insiders. Links to the broadcast and live stats will be available at PepperdineWaves.com as well. Follow @PeppWaterPolo on Twitter for updates.
Last Week: Pepperdine played three games last week, going 1-2. The Waves opened the week with a Thursday night loss to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, 10-8, and then fell on the road to No. 3 USC, 15-4. Pepperdine bounced back with a victory over No. 18 Air Force at home on Sunday, downing the falcons 20-6.
Helping Hands: Kenneth Keller currently leads the team with 22 assists on the season and is one of four players in double digits in both goals and assists. One of those other players is Mark Urban, who is third on the team with 27 goals and second on the squad with 17 assists. He is the only Wave with at least 20 goals and 10 assists. Urban was second on the team last year with 41 goals. Freshman George Mooney is third on the team with 15 assists this year and has 11 goals. Justin Cowan has also added 11 goals and 10 assists.
Leading The Attack: Marko Asic has paced the Waves in goals so far this year, putting up 42 scores through the team's first 16 games. Asic has matched his career-high five goals three times this season, most recently against LMU. This past weekend he scored four times in the Waves' three games. He scored a team-high 45 goals last season.
Fresh Face: Freshman Mate Toth has been an offensive force for Pepperdine, currently sitting second on the team with 31 goals. His 31 goals are also good for second in the GCC, sitting only behind teammate Marko Asic. Toth has scored multiple goals eight times this season.
Netminder: Zack Rhodes has started 15 of the Waves' 16 games and is currently second in the GCC with 113 saves.
The Roster: The Waves return 19 players from last year's squad. Pepperdine brings one player off of a redshirt season and adds five newcomers to the squad. The Waves have five freshman, eight sophomores, eight juniors and four seniors.
New Home: Pepperdine officially joined the newly formed Golden Coast Conference men's water polo division this offseason, joining five other former MPSF members, Long Beach State, Pacific, San Jose State, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. The Golden Coast Conference initially was formed as a women's water polo conference in 2013 with seven NCAA Division I and Division II universities.
Waves in Rio: Waves assistant coach Merrill Moses and former Pepperdine standout Jesse Smith represented the U.S. at the Olympic Games in August. Smith was playing in his fourth Olympics after also competing in 2004, 2008 and 2012, while Moses was playing in his third straight games (2008, 12). Pepperdine alums Jack Kocur and Alex Rodriguez also served as assistant coaches with the U.S. national team in Rio.
Meet the Coaches…
Terry Schroeder: 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 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). Now in his 24th season, he has a career record of 371-264 and is the winningest coach in program history.
Merrill Moses: Three-time U.S. Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016) and former Pepperdine All-American Merrill Moses returns for the 2016 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 #50 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
