IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 8 Pepperdine men's water polo team finished the GCC vs. WWPA Challenge on Saturday splitting games with UC San Diego and Loyola Marymount. Freshman Sean Ferrari led the team with five goals.
The Waves (4-2) beat the Lions (2-3) 13-11 before falling to the Tritons (5-1) 14-11 in the evening game.
GAME RECAP
PEPP 13, LMU 11 (OT)
In the first game of the day, the Waves got started early, getting goals from Sam Paur (Poway, Calif./Poway HS) and Mate Toth (Balatonalmadi, Hungary/Szilagyi Erzsebet Boarding School). The Lions tied the game, sending the game to the second quarter in a 1-1 tie.
The Waves got two more goals, one from Balazs Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola És Gimnázium) and Chris Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) each. LMU scored three goals to take a 5-4 lead into the half.
Ferrari (Redwood City, Calif./St. Francis HS) equalized to start the second half, and after the Lions got a goal, Toth tied the game at 6. LMU scored three times, but goals from George Mooney (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) and Ferrari got the Waves within one. Dilworth scored another after LMU scored again, sending the game to the fourth quarter with the Lions leading by one.
Kosa led the fourth quarter off with a goal, tying the game at 10, followed by Ferrari's completion of the hat trick to give the Waves a one-goal lead. The Lions scored with 1:16 left in regulation, eventually sending the game into overtime, locked at 11.
In the first overtime period, Kosa scored his second goal as a Wave to give the Waves a 12-11 lead, followed closely by Michael Dakis (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte HS). After holding the Lions scoreless throughout the overtime, the Waves took the victory, 13-11.
STATS
Scoring: PEPP—2—2—5—2—2—0—13 ; LMU—2—3—5—1—0—0—11
Goals: PEPP— Ferrari (3), Kosa (3), Dilworth (2), Toth (2), Dakis, Mooney, Paur ; LMU— Mitrovic (4), Athymaritis (2), Jagga (2), Arellano, Reitmeir, Shaw
Saves: PEPP – Marco (10) ; LMU— Halligan (16)
PEPP 11, UCSD 14
In the early-goings of the second game, it was all Tritons, who scored seven goals in the first quarter, and three in the second. The Waves got goals from Paur, Dilworth and Toth in the first, but none in the second to send the game to halftime with the Tritons leading 10-3.
The start of the second half was much of the same, as Dilworth scored the only goal for the Waves in the third quarter. UCSD scored three times to take a nine-goal lead into the final quarter of play.
Something clicked for the Waves in the fourth quarter, as they scored five unanswered goals to start the final period. The goals came from Toth, who had two, Ferrari, who scored five over the course of the day, Dilworth, to net his third hat trick of the year, and Coleman Carpenter (Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park HS) who scored his first goal of the season. After the Tritons scored a goal to give them a 14-9 lead, Ferrari and Jens Cole (Malibu, Calif./Malibu HS) scored to cut the lead back to three, but the clock ran out on the Waves who took their second loss on the year.
STATS
Scoring: PEPP – 3—0—1—7—11 ; UCSD – 7—3—3—1—14
Goals: PEPP – Dilworth (3), Toth (3), Ferrari (2), Carpenter, Cole, Paur ; UCSD – Turnbow-Lindstadt (5), Carniglia (3), Milton (2), Gelnak, Hilde-Jones, Ivancovich, Munatones
Saves: PEPP – McKenney (3), Marco (2) ; UCSD – Thompson (10)
UP NEXT
The Waves are back in action Sunday at the Inland Empire Classic, taking on Redlands at 10:20 a.m. and Pomona Pitzer at 2:40 p.m.
