STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pepperdine men's water polo team finished its season Saturday night, falling 17-13 to host Pacific in the NCAA water polo semifinal.
Balazs Kosa led the Waves with three goals on the night.
The finish is the best for the Waves (25-8) since the 1997 national championship season.
GAME RECAP
The Waves got off to a hot start, with Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola És Gimnázium) getting on the board first. After a Tigers goal,
Jake Gordon (Seattle, Wash./Nathan Hale HS) and Kosa went back to back to retake the lead 3-1.
Chris Dilworth scored at the end of the period, giving the Waves a 3-2 lead going into the second quarter.
In the second, the Tigers scored twice before
Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) tied the game at five. Pacific scored the final three goals of the quarter and took an 8-5 lead into the half.
In the beginning of the second half, the Tigers got on the board first before Jarvis got his second goal.
Sean Ferrari (Redwood City, Calif./St. Francis HS) then got the Waves to within two goals, scoring twice, but the Tigers scored the final three goals of the quarter and led 13-8 leading into the final eight minutes of play.
The Waves got goals from Kosa and
Sean Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) early in the fourth to cut the lead to 15-10 before the Tigers scored twice more to give them 17 goals. Pepperdine got two goals from
George Mooney (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) and one more from Thomas, but it was not enough to defeat the Tigers, who will face Stanford in the National Championship game on Sunday.
STATS
SCORING: PEPP—4—1—3—5—13 ; UOP—3—5—5—4—17
GOALS: PEPP— Kosa (3), Jarvis (2), Ferrari (2), Mooney (2), Thomas (2), Dilworth, Gordon ;
UOP— Pavillard (5), Stanic (3), Araya (2), Cote (2), De Nardi (2), Colak, Hosmer, Lule
SAVES: PEPP— Marco (7) ;
UOP— Macleane (12)
