The No.-6 Pepperdine water polo team opened its season at the annual Triton Invitational, where they left with a record of 3-1.
SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
The No.-6 Pepperdine water polo team traveled to San Diego this past weekend and opened its 2006 season with a record of 3-1 at the Triton Invitational.
Pepperdine dominated Saturday’s two games against Claremont and Redlands, defeating them 15-5 and 12-6, respectively. The Waves kept the momentum during Sunday’s first match against Pacific, advancing to the afternoon’s championship game after beating the fifth-ranked Tigers 14-7. However, the Waves fell to tournament host San Diego, 12-11, in sudden death overtime for second place.
Despite the loss to a Division-II team, junior attacker Nick Corjon said he feels good about the team after the season-opening weekend.
“We looked really good against Pacific,” he said. “Our main goal this weekend was to beat Pacific, and we accomplished that.”
Although Pacific had a higher ranking than Pepperdine by one, according to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) polls before Sunday’s game, the Waves easily drowned the Tigers.
“We actually blew them out, and it’s funny because they are ranked ahead of us in the national polls – they are 5th and we are 6th,” Corjon said.
Another junior felt the same way as Corjon about the weekend’s tournament.
“The team played very well,” goalie Dane Benham said. “We improved each game, we did a very good job shutting down our opposing teams on defense, having a lot of energy on offense and having a lot of movement and helping and supporting each other.”
Having five starters and five of its top six goal scorers from last season, Pepperdine was expected to play well at the season-opening tournament. And it did. However, four of those five main players – juniors Mat MacDonell, Matt Digges, Adam Hewko and Grant Miller – are redshirting this season, which makes the team young and fresh, especially with 13 freshmen.
Despite little experience the new team has, Corjon said all team members are coming together stronger than a year ago.
“We are gelling really well,” he said. “The team is young, but it’s good at the same time because I think the guys are more excited to play. They are fresh. The older guys, who have been around like three years, are maybe worn out a little bit.”
It may not necessarily be better, but it certainly is a different team from the previous season, Corjon added.
Echoing his teammate, Benham credited the strong freshman class is key to the solid brand-new team.
“We have a very good freshman team,” he said. “A lot of freshmen will be contributing members of the team.”
Benham named JP MacDonell as one of excellent freshman players.
For the first attempt to compete in college-level water polo, MacDonell scored nine goals over the weekend.
Although his brother Mat is not competing this year, the MacDonells will be the leading players on the team in the future.
The Waves will return to action Saturday when they travel to cross-town rival Loyola Marymount (3-1). The ball is scheduled to drop at noon at the Burns Recreation and Aquatic Center.
“LMU will be a team that we can’t overlook, and we need to play well in order to beat them,” Benham said. “But they are definitely beatable.”
09-07-2006
