Waves Drop MPSF Invite Opener to UCSB

Friday, September 23

Palo Alto, Calif.

3:20 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

4-7

UC Santa Barbara

7-4

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pepperdine	3	2	3	2	10
UC Santa Barbara	3	5	1	2	11

Photo by: Morgan Davenport

9/23/2022 5:47:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

PALO ALTO, California – The #11 Pepperdine men's water polo team took #8 UC Santa Barbara down to the final possession on Friday afternoon in a first-round matchup at the MPSF Invitational, but the Gauchos prevailed 11-10.

The Gauchos (7-4) earned their second non-conference win over the Waves (4-7) in nine days.

BIG WAVES

Senior center Austin Smit (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) and freshman attacker Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) both scored twice for the Waves. It was Smit's fifth consecutive multi-goal game. Csapo is the only Wave to score in all 11 games this season.
Senior attacker Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) had three assists to go with one goal.
Sophomore goalie Justin Edward (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Dana Hills HS) was credited with a career-high 10 saves.

GAME RECAP

The Waves took a couple of one-goal leads early after a pair of 6-on-5 opportunities. The game was tied at three heading into the second quarter, but then the Gauchos scored four straight to go up 7-3. Freshman attacker Sandor Gal (Budapest, Hungary) eventually ended about a seven-minute drought, but the Waves still trailed 8-5 at halftime.

The Waves had a strong third quarter, outscoring the Gauchos 3-1. A late-period strike by junior attacker Anthony D'Ambra (Rolling Hills, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) made it a one-goal game at 9-8.

Twice in the fourth quarter, the Gauchos went up by two, but the Waves cut the deficit back to one both times, at 10-9 with 4:08 left on a goal by junior attacker Christian Hosea (San Clements, Calif./San Clemente HS) and with 0:38 left on a tally by Jarvis. Pepperdine got the ball back in the final seconds for one last possession but couldn't tie it up before time ran out.

UCSB 3-5-1-2---11
PEPP 3-2-3-2---10
Pepperdine goals: Adam Csapo 2, Austin Smit 2, Dennis Blyashov 1, Anthony D'Ambra 1, Sandor Gal 1, Christian Hosea 1, Curtis Jarvis 1, Nico Tierney 1.

UP NEXT

Pepperdine's second game of the tournament will be at 8 a.m. on Saturday (Sept. 23) against Pomona-Pitzer at Stanford's Belardi Pool. The Waves will play a second game on Saturday at either 2:40 p.m. (with a win) or 1:20 p.m. (with a loss).