SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
Paul Clark/Photo Editor
After playing the first 10 games of the season away, the Pepperdine men’s water polo team came back to Malibu, trying to snap its three-game losing streak at its home opener. However, the Waves fell to ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara 11-10 on Sunday at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. With this defeat, Pepperdine fell to 4-7 for this campaign with seven losses in the past eight games.
Despite a huge loss to the Gauchos two weeks ago at the NorCal Tournament when they beat the Waves 13-6, Pepperdine hung tight to the higher-ranked team during Sunday’s match. The game started somewhat slowly but began to pick up during the third quarter, when both teams scored four times in eight minutes.
Both Pepperdine and UCSB kept scoring one after another and kept the match tied until the last minute. However, the Gauchos ended the close match as Ratko Paunovic scored the game-winning goal with 1:45 remaining during the fourth quarter.
Paul Clark/Photo Editor
Individually, senior Jason Langten led the Waves recording his third hat trick of the season, while freshman JP MacDonell upped the team-leading goal total of 23 with two scores. Senior Doug Mann, juniors Nick Corjon and Jeff Willis, and freshmen Clayton Snyder and Brett Auer each found the back of the cage once. Senior goalie Mike Lee recorded eight saves.
Despite the unsatisfying results from recent matches, MacDonell remained positive about how the team has been playing after the season-opener in San Diego on Sept. 2.
“Our practice system didn’t go well the week after the San Diego Tournament, but once we started playing tougher teams and had more competition, our work ethics picked up a lot,” MacDonell said. “And I think it’s good because we are playing a lot of young players, and we can only get better from what we are doing right now.”
Paul Clark/Photo Editor
Although this is his first water polo season at college level, the young MacDonell leads the Waves with team-high 23 goals, while his older brother junior Matt is redshirting this year. Asked about his goals for the season, he said leading the team as his individual aspiration.
“My main goal is to help lead the team even though I’m only a freshman,” MacDonell said. “I think that if I step up my game, everybody else steps up, and that will really mold together and gel together.”
Paul Clark/Photo Editor
As a team, being in the Top 4 in the nation, beating Stanford, and most importantly, competing at the top of their game are primary goals for the season, he said.
The Waves are next in action when they travel and play against UC Irvine on Friday. They will come back to Malibu for the weekend and play five more games at home. Next weekend, they will again face tough teams when they play four matches at the SoCal Tournament. Having 10 games in 10 days may be tough for the players, but MacDonell took it as a positive sign.
“It’s going to give us a lot of game experience for the younger guys,” he said.
10-05-2006
