Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CLAREMONT, California – The #12 Pepperdine men's water polo team concluded the Gary Troyer Tournament with a perfect 4-0 record after posting a 17-15 overtime win over Air Force and a 21-8 victory over Concordia on Saturday.
The Waves (10-8) battled back from a four-goal deficit to beat the Falcons (19-5) in the morning, but then made things easier on themselves in the afternoon by going up 14-2 at halftime against the Golden Eagles (2-14).
BIG WAVES
- Senior attacker Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) had a team-high total of eight goals on the day, five against the Falcons and three versus the Eagles.
- Graduate attacker Dennis Blyashov (Carlsbad, Calif./Harvard) contributed seven goals, three against Air Force and four later in the day against Concordia.
- Senior attacker Xavier Marco (Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) scored a career-high four goals against Concordia.
- Additional hat tricks were turned in by freshman attacker Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) against Air Force and junior attacker Anthony D'Ambra (Rolling Hills, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) versus Concordia.
GAME #1 RECAP
The Falcons had everything working early and jumped out a 5-1 lead after the first quarter. It was still a four-goal advantage at 7-3 two minutes into the second period. Air Force's lead was 10-7 midway through the third quarter when the Waves finally went on a scoring run, with goals by senior center
Austin Smit (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS), Jarvis and Blyashov tying the contest at 10-10 with less than seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
After Csapo tied it at 11 with 5:36 left, both teams went scoreless for nearly five minutes. Senior center
Nicholas Fichman (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) gave Pepperdine its first lead of the game from two meters with 38 seconds left, but Air Force sent the game to overtime with a goal with seven seconds remaining.
Csapo and Jarvis scored on the Waves' first two possessions of overtime to put the Waves ahead 14-12, and the teams traded goals the rest of the way. Goals by junior center defender
Nico Tierney (Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) and Blyashov in the second overtime period secured the win.
AF 5-4-1-2-1-2---15
PEPP 1-6-2-3-3-2---17
Pepperdine goals: Curtis Jarvis 5,
Dennis Blyashov 3,
Adam Csapo 3,
Nicholas Fichman 1,
Sandor Gal 1,
Christian Hosea 1,
Travis Reynolds 1,
Austin Smit 1,
Nico Tierney 1.
GAME #2 RECAP
After taking a 2-1 lead less than three minutes in, the Waves then scored the next 11 goals to go ahead 13-1 with three minutes to go until halftime. Marco scored all four of his goals in the run, and Smit had two of them. Pepperdine scored seven times in the first quarter and seven more in the second quarter to go up 14-2 at the break. The Waves led by as many as 14 goals in the second half.
CUI 1-1-3-3---8
PEPP 7-7-4-3---21
Pepperdine goals: Dennis Blyashov 4,
Xavier Marco 4,
Anthony D'Ambra 3,
Curtis Jarvis 3,
Austin Smit 2,
Zach Arthur 1,
Sandor Gal 1,
Christian Hosea 1,
Travis Reynolds 1,
Matty Walsh 1.
UP NEXT
The Waves return home to face #2 UCLA on Sunday (Oct. 2) at 1 p.m. at
Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. The game will be streamed on the WCC Network.
