LOS ANGELES – The #8 Pepperdine men's water polo team had a solid start to its five-game weekend on Saturday, winning both games at the WWPA vs. GCC Challenge Cup, hosted by Loyola Marymount. The Waves defeated host LMU 15-11 in the morning game, and California Baptist 13-11 in the afternoon.

The Waves (5-1) were led by Balazs Kosa, who had seven goals on the day, netting hat tricks in both games.

WAVES 15, LMU 11
In the day's first game, the Waves got off to a hot start with goals from Mate Toth (Balatonalmadi, Hungary/Szilagyi Erszebet Boarding School), who scored twice, and Sean Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) to give the Waves a quick 3-1 lead. LMU tied the game at three before Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) gave the Waves a 4-3 lead after the first quarter.

The Lions started the second quarter with a goal to tie the game, but Jarvis quickly completed his hat trick to give the Waves a 6-4 lead. Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola És Gimnázium) gave the Waves a 7-4 lead before Jarvis got his fourth goal of the half, giving the Waves an 8-5 lead going into the halftime break.

Kosa started the second half converting a 5-meter penalty to put the Waves up four goals. He completed his hat trick after Sean Ferrari (Redwood City, Calif./St. Francis HS) put one in the back of the net to give the Waves an 11-5 lead. Freshmen Kaden Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS) and Austin Smit (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) teamed up for three goals to give the Waves a 14-7 lead going into the final eight minutes of play. Jarvis scored his fifth goal to put the Waves up 15-8 with five minutes to play in the game, solidifying the 15-11 win.

STATS
SCORING: PEPP—4—4—6—1—15 ; LMU—3—2—2—4—11
GOALS: PEPP— Jarvis (5), Kosa (3), Smit (2), Toth (2), Ferrari, Kaneko, Thomas ; LMU— Mitrovic (6) Roth (3), Carrasco, Russell
SAVES: PEPP— McKenney (7) ; LMU— Zemilak (13)

WAVES 13, CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 11
In the second game of the day, the Lancers got on the board first, quickly equalized by Kosa before Toth gave the Waves a 2-1 lead, and Ferrari followed with a power-play goal, giving the Waves a 2-goal lead. California Baptist evened the score at three going into the second quarter. After CBU scored to start the second, Kosa got his second goal of the game, followed by an equalizer from the Lancers to tie the game at five. Jarvis then got on the board before Kosa finished his hat trick to give the Waves a 6-5 lead at the half.

Marko Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) and Jarvis scored to start the third quarter and give the Waves an 8-5 lead. Kosa and Thomas then scored to end the quarter on a 5-1 run for the Waves and an 11-6 lead overall heading into the final period of play. Asic completed his hat trick in the fourth quarter to secure the 13-11 victory and two wins on the day for the Waves.

STATS
SCORING: PEPP— 3—3—5—2—13 ; CBU—3—2—1—5—11
GOALS: PEPP— Kosa (4), Asic (3), Jarvis (3), Ferrari, Thomas, Toth ; CBU— Lowery (3), Sanchez (2), Bumgardner, Britton, de Wit, Johnson, Mena, McDonough
SAVES:

UP NEXT
The Waves are back in action on Sunday, when they play in three games at the Inland Empire Classic in Redlands, Calif. They take on Long Beach State at 9 am, Air Force at 11:30 am and Redlands at 3:45 pm.