MALIBU, Calif. – The #6 Pepperdine men's water polo team played a close match with #2 UCLA on Saturday, falling 14-12 in the team's first game at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. Balazs Kosa led all scorers with four goals.
The Waves (9-3) took a three-goal lead into the second quarter, but could not stop the Bruins (6-0) from taking the lead.

GAME RECAP
The Waves opened the game strongly, getting three goals in a row from Marko Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS), Coleman Carpenter (Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park HS) and Chris Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) before the Bruins got one of their own. Michael Dakis (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte HS) put the Waves up 4-2 before Sean Ferrari (Redwood City, Calif./St. Francis HS) gave the Waves a 5-2 lead going into the second quarter. UCLA got five goals in the second, while Dilworth scored the Waves' lone goal, and the Bruins led 7-6 at the half.

After the break, UCLA scored three goals to take a four goal lead, but Kosa and Sean Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) brought the game back to within two. Kosa got his second of the game after UCLA scored twice more right before the end of the third. Going into the fourth quarter, the Bruins led 12-9. UCLA took a 13-9 lead to open the fourth, but two straight goals from Kosa brought the Waves to within two goals with 20 seconds left. Dilworth scored his third of the game as time expired, but was not enough to bring the Waves all the way back, falling to the #2 team in the nation.

HIGHLIGHTS


STATS
SCORING: PEPP—5—1—3—3—12 ; UCLA—2—5—5—2—14
GOALS: PEPP— Kosa (4), Dilworth (3), Asic, Carpenter, Dakis, Ferrari, Thomas, ; UCLA— Saveljic (4), Molthen (3), Cavano (2), Gruwell (2), Brozyna-Vilim,  Gukasyan, Travisano
SAVES: PEPP— McKenney (3), Emden (2) ; UCLA— Wolf (8)

UP NEXT
The Waves are back in action next weekend at the MPSF Invite, hosted by UCLA. Pepperdine's first game is Friday at 6 pm against UC San Diego.