Pepperdine Opens GCC Tournament Against UC Irvine
11/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
This Week: The No. 9 Pepperdine men's water polo team opens up play in the Golden Coast Conference Tournament against No. 19 UC Irvine on Friday night at Pacific. The Waves enter as the fourth seed in the tournament and the Anteaters are the fifth seed.
Game #25: Friday (Nov. 18) vs. UC Irvine at the Chris Kjeldson Aquatic Complex in Stockton, Calif.: No. 9 Pepperdine (12-12, 2-3) vs. No. 18 UC Irvine (9-13, 1-4) at 7:30 p.m.
Follow: All game of the GCC Tournament will be streamed live on PacificTigers.com. Links to both the broadcasts and live stats will also be available on PepperdineWaves.com. Follow @PeppWaterPolo on Twitter for updates.
Last Week: Pepperdine played its final regular season game at UC Santa Barbara, closing out the conference season with a hard-fought 10-8 loss to the fourth-ranked Gauchos. The Waves tied the game several times in the second half, but UCSB scored the last two goals of the game for the win.
Conference Tournament: The inaugural GCC Tournament will be held this weekend at Pacific's Chris Kjeldson Aquatic Complex in Stockton, Calif. The tournament consists of all six conference teams, with the two two finishers (UC Santa Barbara and Pacific) getting a first-round bye. The fourth-place Waves take on the fifth-place UC Irvine Anteaters. Third-place Long Beach State takes on sixth-place San Jose State. The winner of the Pepperdine-UC Irvine game will play UCSB on Saturday.
Netminder: Pepperdine goalie Zack Rhodes is currently second in the GCC and ninth in the nation with 188 saves this season. Rhodes is averaging 8.17 saves per game and has a .561 save percentage. He picked up GCC Player of the Week honors earlier this year after an 18-save performance against Pacific.
Leading The Attack: Marko Asic has paced the Waves offensively so far this year, putting up 62 scores to also lead the GCC. Asic has matched his career-high five goals four times this season, most recently against UCSB. Just behind Asic on the attack are freshman Mate Toth with 37 goals and junior Mark Urban with 34 goals.
Other Notes:
- Kenneth Keller has led the Waves nearly all year in assists, currently posting 29 helpers so far this year. Keller's 29 assists are second in the GCC.
- Mark Urban is right behind Keller with 26 assists, tied for third in the GCC.
- The Waves have three of the top 10 goal scorers in the league and two of the top 10 assist totals.
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.
