Malibu, Calif. – A wild game at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool resulted in a 17-10 win for the #6 Pepperdine men's water polo team over #5 UC Santa Barbara. Sean Thomas, Balazs Kosa and Chris Dilworth all had hat tricks for the Waves.
After a competitive first half between the Gauchos (19-6, 2-2 GCC) and Waves (22-7, 4-1 GCC), a third quarter brawl opened the game up.
Saturday was also Senior Day, as the Waves honored Marko Asic, Chris Dilworth, George Mooney, Sean Thomas and Mate Toth in a pregame ceremony.
GAME RECAP
The Gauchos and Waves traded goals in the first quarter, with Pepperdine getting goals from Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) first. His goal was followed by one from Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) and one from Kosa BB(Kos HS) to end the quarter with a 4-3 Gaucho lead. The second was all Waves, as the Gauchos scored just twice. After Kosa and Marko Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) scored to make it 5-4, the Gauchos tied it up with 5:37 left in the half. The Waves then scored three straight, as Thomas and Mate Toth (Balatonalmadi, Hungary/Szilagyi Erzsebet Boarding School) scored, and Asic got his second of the game. That goal from Asic tied his father, Pero's all-time goal total at Pepperdine, with 239 career goals. Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS). Dilworth scored his second goal with 1:55 left in the half to give the Waves an 8-6 lead with two quarters to play.
To start the third, the Waves got two straight goals from Thomas and Dilworth to take a 10-6 lead. After a Gaucho goal, Dilworth completed his hat trick and Toth got his second goal. With 39 seconds to play in the quarter, Thomas and Sam Nangle of the Gauchos both got misconduct exclusions. Their exclusions set off a whirlwind of shoving and punches that led to six flagrant misconduct fouls. The two Waves players ejected were Michael Dakis and Asic. The Gauchos had four players ejected: Leo Yuno, Spencer Wood, Tommy Hawkins and Connor Moynihan. The six ejections led to six penalty shots, four being awarded to the Waves and two to the Gauchos. Those four penalty shots for the Waves were made, as Kosa made two, Sean Ferrari made one and Jarvis made the final one. The Gauchos also made both of their awarded penalty shots, and the game moved into the fourth quarter, the Waves leading 16-9. Each team scored just once in the fourth, as Ferrari secured the Waves' 17-10 victory.
STATS
SCORING: PEPP—3—5—8—1—17 ; UCSB—4—2—3—1—10
GOALS: PEPP— Dilworth (3), Kosa (3), Thomas (3), Asic (2), Ferrari (2), Jarvis (2), Toth (2), ; UCSB— Puentes (3), Yuno (3), C. Brosnan, Chambliss, Gvozdanovic, Lott
SAVES: PEPP— JC Marco (10) ; UCSB— Roland (8)
GCC TOURNAMENT
With the win, the Waves secure the No. 2 seed in next Week's Golden Coast Tournament and a bye until the second round. The tournament starts on Friday, with two games. The first will start at 11 a.m. at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
