IRVINE, Calif. - The No. 10 Pepperdine men's water polo team defeated No. 11 San Jose State on Friday night in the first round of the Golden Coast Conference Tournament, 11-8, to advance to the semifinal. Chris Dilworth scored three goals for the Waves.

WAVES 11, SJSU 8

Box Score

The Waves took a 9-6 lead going into the fourth and final quarter of play. San Jose State scored two quick goals to cut the lead to one before George Mooney (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) and Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) scored a goal each, pulling the Waves ahead for good.

Pepperdine opened the game on a 4-0 run, and would never give back the lead. Sean Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) started the Waves off strong, scoring just 34 seconds into the game. A goal from Mark Urban (Budapest, Hungary/Diablo Valley College) and two from Dilworth were scored before the Spartans could find the back of the net. Kenneth Keller (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) scored with just five seconds left in the quarter, giving the Waves a 5-2 lead heading into the second.

The second quarter was a more defensive quarter, with just three goals scored. The two Pepperdine goals were from Marko Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) and Thomas, giving the Waves a comfortable 7-3 lead at the half. In the third, Asic would score his second of the game, and Sam Paur (Poway, Calif./Poway HS) also got in on the action.

Zack Rhodes (Palm Desert, Calif./Palm Desert HS) had eight saves on the night.

STATS

SCORING: PEPP—5—2—2—2—11 ; SJSU—2—1—3—2—8

GOALS: PEPP— Dilworth 3, Asic 2, Thomas 2, Keller, Mooney, Paur, Urban ; SJSU— Mercep 4, Hauschild 2, Cupic, Toth

SAVES: PEPP— Rhodes 8 ; SJSU— Palmer 13

UP NEXT

The 5-seeded Waves are back in action at the GCC Tournament tomorrow in the semifinals against No. 1 seed Pacific at 7:30 p.m.

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