Senior centerback Christian Cardey stepped it up for Pepperdine’s men’s water polo team with the winning shot of the Nov. 15 game at UC Irvine. In the game versus the No. 10 Anteaters No. 5 Pepperdine battled in five overtime periods to gain the 15-14 victory.
“We didn’t loath having to keep playing period after period of overtimes and sudden deaths senior center Clayton Snyder said. We were having a blast playing together.”
In the first period the Waves had a 3-1 lead but while the clock was running down UCI started firing shots and cut Pepperdine’s lead to one with a score of 4-3.
Snyder put the ball in the net during the second period giving the Waves a two-goal lead at 5-3. With only 4:40 left on the clock the Anteaters fought back and answered with back-to-back goals to tie the game at 5-5. In the last two minutes UCI added two more goals and were up by two 7-5. Each team threw one in the cage before the halftime buzzer with the Anteaters in the lead 8-6.
In the third period Pepperdine fought back scoring three goals and placing themselves within one goal of UCI when the period ended 10-9.
“We definitely had a lot of courage to keep up our efforts Snyder said. We were down by 1 up by 2 down by 3 up by 1— certainly we could have felt better about our defense but we stuck together and kept to our game plan to find a win.”
Senior attacker JP MacDonell had a penalty shot which tied the game at 10-10 in the fourth quarter.
The Waves were tied with only 52 seconds left when freshman centerback Danny White scored the goal that was thought to be the game winner at 13-12. One second was left on the clock when an Anteater put a ball in the cage forcing the game into overtime.
“I knew that my teammates were just as focused and ready to play as I was and our composure showed in the game White said.
Christian Cardey is the man White added, referring to the centerback’s last-second heroics.
In the first overtime, UCI scored to take a 14-13 lead, but in the second overtime, the Waves scored to again tie the game. In both the third and fourth overtime neither team scored.
It was Cardey’s goal in the fifth overtime that gave the Pepperdine Waves the victory at 15-14.
I was so stoked we pulled it off White said. Everything that was thrown at us we took advantage of it and came out on top.”
It was a team effort for the much needed win and according to Snyder it was playing as a team that brought out the talent in each player.
“JP MacDonell showed once again that he’s one of the top players in the nation Snyder said. Tommy had a rough start early in the game but came up with some huge saves to keep us in the game. Danny White and Travis Gough stepped up and made some key goals while Christian Cardey’s game winner in sudden death goes without saying.”
On Saturday Nov. 21 the Waves host the game against UC Santa Barbara in the Raleigh-Runnels Memorial Pool.
