BERKELEY, Calif. – The seventh-ranked Pepperdine men's water polo team accomplished a feat that hadn't happened in 11 years as the team defeated No. 6 California 13-12 in Overtime on Saturday. Both
Marko Asic and
Balazs Kosa had hat tricks for the Waves.
The win was another milestone, as it had been 14 years since the Waves (13-5) had defeated the Bears (10-6) in Berkeley.
GAME RECAP
The Waves started hot, getting a goal from
George Mooney (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) to open the scoring. After a Cal goal, Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola És Gimnázium) and
Mate Toth (Balatonalmadi, Hungary/Szilagyi Erszebet Boarding School) gave the Waves a 2-goal lead. Cal tied the game at three before Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) scored at the end of the quarter. Cal matched him, tying the game at four goals after eight minutes of play.
Cal got the first two goals of the second quarter, but Asic got the Waves back within two with his second goal. He then finished his hat trick at the end of the half to keep the Bears' lead at two goals as they took an 8-6 lead into the break.
In the third quarter, the Waves got goals from
Kaden Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS) and
Chris Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) to tie the game at eight. Kosa got his second goal of the game to give the Waves the lead, but it was quickly tied back at 9. Dilworth got his second goal after two more Cal goals, and the Bears led 11-10 after the third quarter. The Bears got the first goal of the fourth quarter, but Kosa completed his hat trick and
Sean Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) got a huge goal to force the game into overtime, tied at 12.
In the first overtime period
Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) was the hero, scoring the only goal of either OT periods to give the Waves the victory.
QUOTABLE
STATS
SCORING: PEPP—4—2—4—2—1—0—13 ; CAL—4—4—3—1—0—12
GOALS: PEPP— Asic (3), Kosa (3), Dilworth (2), Jarvis, Kaneko, Mooney, Thomas, Toth ;
CAL— Dunn (3), Hoover (2), Papanikolaou (2), Simsek (2), Valecic (2), Deely
SAVES: PEPP— McKenney (5), Emden (2) ;
CAL— Weinberg (14)
UP NEXT
The Waves are back in action tomorrow, as they head to Golden Coast Conference rival San Jose State for a non-conference matchup. Tomorrow's game will start at noon.
