Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CLAREMONT, California – The #12 Pepperdine men's water polo team used a couple of strong second halves to knock off NCAA Division III's top-two ranked teams on Friday, as the Waves defeated hosts Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 15-7 and Pomona-Pitzer 17-10 at the Gary Troyer Tournament.
The Waves (8-8) outscored the #2 Stags (4-9) by a count of 12-3 after the break, and then had a 10-4 second-half advantage over the #1 Sagehens (7-8).
BIG WAVES
- Freshman attacker Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) scored six goals and three assists in the nightcap against Pomona-Pitzer.
- Junior center defender Nico Tierney (Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) had five goals on the day, four of them coming against Pomona-Pitzer. With five assists against the Sagehens, he had a hand in nine of the goals.
- Senior center Nicholas Fichman (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College) netted a total of three goals over the two games.
- Sophomore goalie Nathan James (Bakersfield, Calif./Saddleback College) made nine saves in the win over the Stags, and freshman goalie Zach Cwiertnia (Villa Park, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic HS) made seven stops against the Sagehens.
GAME #1 RECAP
The Waves got off to a slow start offensively, going 0-for-5 on 6-on-5 opportunities and missing on two five-meter penalties in the first half. That helped the Stags to take a 4-3 lead at halftime. But Pepperdine righted the ship after the break, scoring the first six goals of the third quarter, the first two coming from sophomore attacker
Clay Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS), to give the Waves the lead for good. Pepperdine added six more goals in the fourth quarter.
CMS 1-3-1-2---7
PEPP 1-2-6-6---15
Pepperdine goals: Anthony D'Ambra 2,
Nicholas Fichman 2,
Curtis Jarvis 2,
Clay Kaneko 2,
Austin Smit 2,
Zach Arthur 1,
Sandor Gal 1,
Christian Hosea 1,
Xavier Marco 1,
Nico Tierney 1.
GAME #2 RECAP
Tied at two in the first quarter, the Waves ran off four straight goals, the last three by Tierney, to take a 6-2 advantage. But Pomona-Pitzer came back with its four-goal run to tie the game. Csapo scored to put Pepperdine ahead 7-6 at halftime. The Waves went up by three at 9-6, but the Sagehens closed the gap to one again at 9-8. Late in the third period, Csapo scored twice on consecutive possessions to make it 11-8 heading to the final quarter. Pepperdine outscored Pomona-Pitzer 6-2 in the fourth quarter, with Tierney getting his fourth goal and Csapo recording his sixth.
P-P 2-4-2-2---10
PEPP 5-2-4-6---17
Pepperdine goals: Adam Csapo 6,
Nico Tierney 4,
Dennis Blyashov 1,
Nicholas Fichman 1,
Sandor Gal 1,
Christian Hosea 1,
Clay Kaneko 1,
Austin Smit 1,
Matty Walsh 1.
UP NEXT
The Waves have two more games at the Gary Troyer Tournament on Saturday (Oct. 1). Pepperdine faces Air Force at 10:20 a.m. at Pomona-Pitzer's Haldeman Pool, and then Concordia at 3:40 p.m. at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Axelrood Pool. On Sunday (Oct. 2), the Waves return home to face #2 UCLA at 1 p.m. at
Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
