Pepperdine University
UCLA
No. 10 Waves Fall to Top-Ranked Bruins
9/15/2018 2:15:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
WESTWOOD, Calif. – The No. 10 Pepperdine men's water polo team got hat tricks from three separate players but fell to top-ranked UCLA 16-10 on Saturday. Balazs Kosa, Sam Paur and George Mooney each had hat tricks for the Waves.
The Waves (6-3) outscored the Bruins (9-0) in the second half 6-4, who just last year were national champions.
GAME RECAP
The Bruins started off the game hot, getting two goals before Paur (Poway, Calif./Poway HS) scored the first goal for the Waves. Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola És Gimnázium) and Mooney (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) followed suit with back-to-back goals to end the first quarter. UCLA led 7-3 after one.
After the Bruins scored twice to lead off the second quarter, Kosa scored his second goal of the day on a 5-meter penalty conversion, the only goal for the Waves in the period. UCLA scored three more times to take a 12-4 lead into the half.
The third quarter was much of the same, as Paur and Mooney each got their second goals of the game. The defense held the Bruins to just one goal, as they took a 13-6 lead into the fourth.
Kosa started the fourth period off by completing his hat trick. Mooney and Paur each followed quickly by completing their own hat tricks before Chris Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) got the final goal of the game for the Waves, as the clock ran out with the Bruins on top 16-10.
STATS
Scoring: PEPP: 3—1—2—4—10 ; UCLA: 7—5—1—3—16
Goals: PEPP: Balazs Kosa (3), George Mooney (3), Sam Paur (3), Chris Dilworth ; UCLA: Jake Cavano (5), Nicolas Saveljic (3), Quinten Osborne (2), Felix Brozyna-Vilim, Luke Henriksson, Matthew Kacura, Ashworth Molthen, Evan Rosenfeld
UP NEXT
The Waves are back in action on Thursday, Sept. 20 for their home-opener against UC Santa Barbara. The game will start at 6 p.m. at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
