LA JOLLA, Calif. – The #13 Pepperdine men's water polo team upset #2 California 21-20 in a sudden death overtime thriller this afternoon before cruising past Cal State Fullerton 23-7 and wrapping up an undefeated weekend at the Triton Invitational this evening.
 
The Waves trailed the Bears with less than two minutes to go in regulation before a late goal sent the game to overtime. Pepperdine once again trailed by one in the overtime period, but yet again found the equalizer with 21 seconds left to send the game to sudden death where they would eventually find the game-winning goal.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore utility Jon Carcarey (Santa Maria, Calif.) had the game winning goal in the sudden death overtime against #2 California as well as a total of nine goals on the day.
• Fifth Year attacker Christian Hosea (San Clemente, Calif.) scored four times against the #2 Bears and had a total of five goals and one assist in today's games.
• Freshman attacker Erik Ionescu (Budapest, Hungary) had five points including four goals and one assist against #2 California.
• Senior attacker Dane Howell (Huntington Beach, Calif.) had two goals in each of the games today as well as two assists against #2 California.

#2 CALIFORNIA RECAP
 
After a stop on defense, Carcarey snuck the ball past the Bears goalie to give the Waves a 1-0 advantage a minute into the game. California would score the games next four goals, but back-to-back goals from Hosea and another one from Ionescu knotted the game 4-4. The Waves and Bears stayed tied at 5-all heading into the second quarter.
 
Goals from Chase Wilson (New York, N.Y.), Hosea and Csapo would keep Pepperdine within striking distance heading into halftime where California had a one goal advantage, 9-8.
 
The Waves would take a 12-10 lead with 3:10 left in the third quarter thanks to another pair of goals from Ionescu along with scores by Howell and Sandor Gal (Budapest, Hungary). California would then pull within one at the end of the quarter to cut the Waves lead in half heading into the final period, 14-13.
 
Carcarey's fourth goal of the game followed by Ionescu's fourth would put Pepperdine in front 16-13, but the Bears scored the games next three goals to tie things back up 16-16 with 4:11 left to play. Wilson then found the back of the cage to give the Waves the lead, but the Bears would retake the lead 18-17 after back-to-back goals of their own. Hosea then scored his fourth goal of the game on a power play to tie the game with 1:16 left to play. Both teams came up empty in the last minute of regulation and the game went to overtime.
 
In the first three-minute overtime period, the Bears scored the only goal and held a 19-18 lead with three minutes to play. Both teams traded defensive stops to start the last overtime period, but Carcarey was able to send a shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 19-all with 1:12 left to play. California would counter with a goal, but Dane Howell would score the equalizer with 0:21 seconds left. A clutch stop on the defensive end by the Waves sent the game to a sudden death period.
 
The Bears won the sprint to start the sudden death period, but another solid defensive stand from the Waves would give Pepperdine a chance to win it on the offensive end. After the Waves passed it around the perimeter a few times, Jon Carcarey got the ball in the middle of the pool, made a couple of moves and fired a shot into the top right corner of the goal to win the game 21-20 for the Waves and complete the upset over the #2-ranked Bears.
 
CAL 5-4-4-5-1-1-0 — 20
PEPP 5-3-6-4-0-2-1 —21
 
Pepperdine goals: Jon Carcarey 6, Christian Hosea 4, Erik Ionescu 4, Sandor Gal 2, Dane Howell 2, Chase Wilson 2, Adam Csapo 1. 
 
FULLERTON RECAP
 
After the Waves got a defensive stop on the opening possession, Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) scored the games first goal with a laser into the back of the net to put Pepperdine up 1-0. Fullerton would tie the game 1-1, but back-to-back goals from Carcarey and another from Milo Joseph (Malibu, Calif.) would put the Waves in front 4-1. The Titans would cut their deficit to one, but another three-goal run by the Pepperdine including two more goals from Csapo would give the Waves a 7-3 lead after the first eight minutes.
 
Stellar defense led by goalie Max Smirnov (Petah Tikva, Israel) would hold Fullerton to one goal in the second quarter while Pepperdine tacked on six goals of their own to take a 13-4 advantage into the break.
 
Thanks to a pair of goals from Clay Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and some scores by Csapo, Wilson and Bronson Birdsall (Kailua, Hawai'i), the Waves would go on a five-to-nothing run to open the second half, take an 18-4 lead and put the game out of reach.
 
Pepperdine would add five more goals during the remainder of the game to ultimately defeat Fullerton 23-7. The Waves were led by Csapo's five goals to go along with hat-tricks from Carcarey and Kaneko.
 
FUL 3-1-2-1 — 7
PEPP 7-6-6-4 —23
 
Pepperdine goals: Adam Csapo 5, Jon Carcarey 3, Clay Kaneko 3, Bronson Birdsall 2, Dane Howell 2, Milo Joseph 2, Chase Wilson 2, Conor Brough 1, Christian Hosea 1, Sandor Gal 1, Charles Warmington 1.
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine will host PCH Cup rival #16 Loyola Marymount in the home opener at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool at noon on Saturday, September 14 before facing off against #4 USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Sunday, September 15 at 1 p.m.