MALIBU, Calif. – The #7 Pepperdine men's water polo team fell 18-12 to #2 UCLA on Saturday afternoon at
Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
The Bruins (15-1, 1-1) outshot the Waves (14-4, 0-0) .500 to .462 while also collecting 14 steals to Pepperdine's seven.
BIG WAVES
- Sophomore utility Jon Carcarey (Santa Maria, Calif.) had a hat-trick on the day.
- Junior attacker Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) had a team-high four goals and three assists for a total of seven points.
- Freshman attacker Erik Ionescu (Budapest, Hungary) had a pair of goals and assists.
- Junior attacker Conor Brough (Dana Point, Calif.) tallied two goals against the Bruins.
RECAP
After the teams traded goals in the first two minutes, UCLA went on a four-goal run and took a 5-1 lead with less than a minute left to play in the first quarter. Csapo's (Budapest, Hungary) second goal of the game followed by Carcarey's (Santa Maria, Calif.) first goal cut the deficit in half at the end of the first quarter.
Carcarey and Hosea capped off Pepperdine's own four-goal run to open the second quarter, and the teams were all tied up at 5. The Bruins then scored the game's next three goals before back-to-back goals from
Conor Brough (Dana Point, Calif.) and Carcarey brought the Waves back within one. UCLA then found the back of the net at the buzzer to take a 9-7 advantage into the break.
Csapo opened the scoring in the second half, but UCLA would score the next four goals of the game to take a five-goal lead with 1:33 left in the third quarter. Goals from Csapo and
Erik Ionescu (Budapest, Hungary) at the end of the period helped make it a 14-10 game in favor of the Bruins.
Three quick goals to start the fourth quarter helped the Bruins hold a 17-11 lead with 4:09 left in the game. The teams traded goals to end the game, and UCLA won the contest 18-12.
UCLA 5-4-5-4 — 18
PEPP 3-4-3-2 — 12
Pepperdine goals:
Adam Csapo 4,
Jon Carcarey 3,
Conor Brough 2,
Erik Ionescu 2,
Christian Hosea 1.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine will stay in Malibu, Calif. for a midweek matchup against #11 Princeton on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Tickets to the game can be found
here.
FOLLOW
Follow @PeppWaterPolo on X for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/PeppWaterPolo) for releases and more information. Find the Waves on Instagram @peppwaterpolo.