LOS ANGELES — No. 12 Pepperdine water polo (5-4) saw its comeback effort fall short in overtime against No. 11 UC Davis (4-4) at day one of the MPSF Invite. The Waves fell 14-12 from Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA, forcing the extra frame after trailing by five goals in the third period.
With the defeat, the Waves will travel to USC tomorrow for a pair of games, beginning with a matchup against Redlands at 8 a.m. Pepperdine will then take on either Santa Clara or Cal Baptist, at either 2 p.m. or 3:30 p.m., pending the results of the morning fixtures.
The Waves trailed throughout the contest, including facing a 10-5 deficit with 3:27 remaining in the third period. Pepperdine stormed back while shutting out the Aggies for 9:39 of game time split between the third and fourth frames.
Owen Tift led the Waves with three goals in his first return to action since the season's opening weekend at the Triton Invite.
Dane Howell and
Sandor Gal each added a pair of goals offensively, with
Matty Walsh scoring a goal and assisting twice while drawing three exclusions.
Max Smirnov was strong throughout in the cage for the Waves, making 15 saves on the day. Pepperdine held the Aggies to just a 5-for-15 conversion rate on the man advantage, as the Waves converted five of eight opportunities and went three-for-four on five-meter penalty attempts.
The Waves were outscored 3-1 in the opening period with
Csanád Bella logging the lone goal in the early stages for Pepperdine. Both offenses started slow, with just four goals in the opening 10-plus minutes of the game.
Pepperdine found its way in the second, scoring three straight goals in under 90 seconds to take its first lead of the game.
Jackson Benners,
Jon Carcarey and Gal notched the goals for the Waves.
UC Davis responded before halftime, answering with a 3-0 run of its own to take a 6-4 lead into the break.
The Waves called two timeouts in the first two minutes of the second half, as the Aggies extended the lead to 9-4 with three quick goals in the third period. Smirnov and the Waves began the comeback effort with multiple stops in a row, as Tift and Howell each scored twice to eventually make it 10-8 just 30 seconds into the final quarter.
Less than two minutes later, the game was tied at 10 as Gal's second goal of the game followed a
Brian Barnuevo tally to put the sides even. Pepperdine had completely turned the game around, with Tift scoring his career-high third of the game to put the Waves ahead 11-10 with three minutes remaining.
UC Davis continued to fight and tied the score with over a minute remaining, which saw the Waves with a six-on-five following an exclusion drawn by Walsh. With 16 seconds remaining, it was Walsh who came through in the clutch, scoring a go-ahead goal for the Waves. With one possession to tie the score, UC Davis executed into a good look which sent the game into overtime, Pepperdine's second overtime game of the season.
The two sides each held up defensively in the first overtime frame, but the Aggies were able to put two on the board while blanking the Waves in the second extra frame. UC Davis came away with a 14-12 victory, and will take on No. 1 UCLA tomorrow morning.
Game Notes
The Waves will head to the campus of USC tomorrow and Sunday, with the first of two games on Saturday being an 8 a.m. matchup with Redlands. Streaming for the contest can be found on
overnight.com.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE WATER POLO
Pepperdine water polo has seen success spanning decades under
Terry Schroeder who gave the reins to
Merrill Moses following the 2023 season. Highlighted by its national championship in 1997 with Moses as the starting goalie, the Waves have reached the NCAA Tournament on 13 occasions and recently won the inaugural WCC Regular Season Championship in 2023. Overall, the program has seen 60 athletes garner All-American honors while boasting a winning record in 36 of 50 seasons.
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