By Erica Sigman
Staff Writer
The No. 5-ranked Pepperdine men’s water polo team fell to No. 9 UC Irvine 8-7 Sunday in a heartbreaking loss just one day after defeating Long Beach State 12-11.
The loss dropped the Waves to 15-6 overall and 3-4 in the MPSF play.
Junior two-meter man Morgan Matthies and senior two-meter man Michael Hausmann, who have been huge for the team in recent weeks, led the Waves with two goals apiece against the Anteaters of Irvine.
“A few of our guys stepped up really well this weekend,” Head Coach Terry Schroeder said.
And they had to. With All-American teammate and leading scorer Jesse Smith out two weeks with a punctured eardrum, the Waves needed offense, but it was their defense that proved to be the downfall this weekend.
“It was a pretty physical game,” Hausmann said. “It was a really slow game. Our offense got slowed down a lot.”
Pepperdine opened the weekend by defeating the Long Beach 49ers 12-11, but a solid defense still appeared absent from its attack.
“Our defense was a little shaky,” Schroeder said. “We should’ve never allowed them to get 11 goals.”
The Waves went into the second half of play tied 6-6 with Long Beach, but Pepperdine started the third quarter off right with two quick, back-to-back goals by junior driver Jordan Keitel and freshman driver Garrit Barth.
Players said the remainder of the game was intense, with both teams trading off taking the lead. However, Matthies stepped up with 17 seconds left on the game clock and scored the game winning goal for the Waves.
Matthies and Hausmann both contributed three goals a piece to the final score.
“We didn’t play too much defense,” Hausmann said. “They scored on a lot of the 6-5 opportunities we gave them.”
Whether or not it was the lack of defense or the loss of two players, Smith and senior two-meter guard France Denk, this weekend was not one of Pepperdine’s strongest.
After the contest on Saturday, the Waves hosted a game of inner-tube water polo with a group of inner city children from the Los Angeles’ organization “Chance for Children.”
All the children were separated into teams, the course was shortened, and each child was assigned a member of the Pepperdine squad to assist them in the game many of the youths had never played before.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to give back to the community,” Schroeder said. “It really allows us to realize how fortunate we are in our situations. I think our guys got a lot out of it.”
His team agrees.
“It was fun,” Hausmann said. “We were all laughing and smiling. They gave a little something to us and we gave a little something to them.”
This is the second time the water polo program at Pepperdine has sponsored this event, and they express a desire to do more during the off season.
The Waves will host No.10 Loyola Marymount University at Raleigh Runnels Memorial pool Thursday at 2 p.m. The Waves will then travel to Westwood to play No. 4 UCLA Saturday at noon.
November 13, 2003