MALIBU, Calif. – Behind Christian Hosea's career-high seven goals, sharp shooting and excellent defense against the power play, the #4 Pepperdine men's water polo team (11-1) defeated #9 Long Beach State (8-6) 15-12 on Saturday afternoon at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
 
The Waves converted on six of their 11 power play opportunities, while stopping the Beach on all eight of their power play chances. Pepperdine also outshot Long Beach State .517 to .353 today.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior attacker Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) had three goals and three assists on the afternoon.
• Junior attacker Sandor Gal (Budapest, Hungary) tallied two goals against the Beach.
• Fifth year attacker Christian Hosea (San Clemente, Calif.) had a career-high seven goals on a perfect 1.000 shooting percentage today.
• Freshman goalie Max Smirnov (Petah Tikva, Israel) collected 13 saves to go along with a .520 save percentage.

RECAP
 
After a stop on defense, Hosea scored his first of many goals to put Pepperdine up 1-0 within the first minute of the game.  Long Beach State countered with a goal of their own, but Hosea and Csapo then scored back-to-back goals to give the Waves a two-goal advantage. The Beach would tie things up at three, but another pair of Waves' goals - this time from Sandor Gal (Budapest, Hungary) and Jon Carcarey (Santa Maria, Calif.) - helped Pepperdine take a 5-3 lead into the second quarter.
 
Long Beach State made it a one-goal game with 5:37 left in the half, but Pepperdine would find another run. Csapo, Hosea and Gal all found the back of the net as the Waves increased their lead to four, 8-4. Both teams then traded goals to end the period and Pepperdine held a 10-7 advantage at the break.
 
The Beach would strike first in the second half, but Pepperdine answered with its second three-goal run of the game. This time it was Csapo, Hosea and Joseph who found the back of the cage, and Pepperdine took a 13-8 advantage midway through the third quarter. Hosea's goal during the Waves' run was his sixth of the game and gave him a new career-high. Long Beach State would score the final goal of the period and make it a four-goal game with eight minutes left to play.
 
The Beach began the fourth quarter with three-straight goals and were able to cut the Waves lead to two with 3:28 remaining. However, Hosea scored his seventh goal of the contest and added on to his career-best performance to put Pepperdine up 14-11 and seal the game for the Waves. Pepperdine would go on to defeat the Long Beach State 15-12 and improve to 11-1 on the season.
 
LBSU 3-4-2-3 — 12
PEPP 5-5-3-2 — 15
 
Pepperdine goals: Christian Hosea 7, Adam Csapo 3, Sandor Gal 2, Jon Carcarey 1, Erik Ionescu 1, Milo Joseph 1.
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine will take on #3 Stanford tomorrow at noon at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool, and tickets to the game can be found here. The first 50 fans at Sunday's game will receive a free retro fan flag.
 
The game will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available. Links to both the stream and live stats can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
 
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.