LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Pepperdine men's water polo team won both games on Sunday to take fifth place at the Triton Invitational. The Waves defeated Loyola Marymount 19-14 in the earlier game and UC San Diego 11-8 in the fifth-place game in the afternoon.
Senior
Marko Asic (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) led the way with five goals on the day, scoring twice in the game against LMU and a hat trick against UCSD.
PEPPERDINE 19, LMU 14
The day's first game got off to a hot start for the Waves, as goals from
Sean Thomas (Covina, Calif./Loyola HS) and
Balazs Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola És Gimnázium) kept the Waves and Lions locked at two.
Coleman Carpenter (Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park HS) then started a 4-0 run for the Waves as, after Carpenter,
Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS),
Mate Toth (Balatonalmadi, Hungary/Szilagyi Erszebet Boarding School) and Asic combined to give the Waves a 6-2 lead. Asic then scored right before the end of the quarter after UCSD scored to give the Waves a 7-3 lead going into the second quarter. In the second, the Waves started well, opening with three straight goals from Toth, Kosa and Carpenter to take a 10-3 lead. UCSD then scored three unanswered of their own to cut the lead to 10-6 going into the half.
In the second half, the Waves kept up the offensive attack. To start the third quarter,
Max Sprute (Van Nuys, Calif./Notre Dame HS) got his first goal of the season to give the Waves an 11-6 lead. After UCSD scored twice,
George Mooney (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) scored to give the Waves a 12-8 lead. Toth, Kosa and Mooney then scored three unanswered to give the Waves a 15-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. Pepperdine got goals from Kosa, Carpenter,
Jake Gordon (Seattle, Wash./Nathan Hale HS) and
Austin Smit (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) to preserve the 19-14 win.
STATS
SCORING: PEPP—7—3—5—4—19 ;
LMU—3—3—4—4—14
GOALS: PEPP: Kosa (4), Carpenter (3), Toth (3), Asic (2), Mooney (2), Gordon, Jarvis, Smit, Sprute, Thomas ;
LMU: Athymaritis (3), Carrasco (2), Roth (2), Shaw (2), Chandler, Clark, Huhn, Knoedler, Rimlinger
PEPPERDINE 11, UCSD 8
In the fifth-place game the Waves and Tritons traded the first four goals, with Asic scoring both for the Waves. He then completed his hat trick halfway through the quarter. Jarvis followed his goal with one of his own to give the Waves a 4-2 lead. UCSD scored with a minute and a half left in the quarter to cut the Waves' lead to one goal going into the second quarter. Toth led off the second quarter for the Waves, giving Pepperdine a 5-3 lead. UCSD answered before Smit gave the Waves the two-goal lead with 42 second left in the half.
After the half time break, UCSD scored the first goal of the third quarter, but Jarvis answered quickly to preserve the lead. After another Triton goal, the Waves scored three straight goals from Carpenter, Jarvis and
Kaden Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS). Kaneko got his second of the game with two and a half minutes to give the Waves the 11-8 victory.
STATS
SCORING: PEPP— 4—2—1—4—11 ;
UCSD—3—1—2—2—8
GOALS: PEPP— Asic (3), Jarvis (3), Kaneko (2), Carpenter, Smit, Toth ;
UCSD— Gallo (2), Milton (2), Ellinthorpe, Hilde-Jones, Karlov, Munatones
SAVES: PEPP— McKenney (9) ;
UCSD— Turner (5)
UP NEXT
The Waves will be back in action next week, as they head to the GCC vs. WWPA Challenge hosted by LMU.
