Pepperdine Men’s Water Polo hosted Westcliff on Sept. 19, at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool, for their second meeting of the season. The first meeting resulted in a dominant 23-5 Pepperdine victory.
Pepperdine enters the rematch at 5-1 on the season looking to get back to their winning ways after suffering their first loss of the season to USC on Sept. 15. Westcliff was looking for their first win this season.
Pepperdine took the lead early in the game with a goal from junior attacker Sandor Gal, following it up with another shortly after. Pepperdine kept control of the game early on, highlighted by their impressive defense, finishing the first quarter with a 5-0 lead.
Westcliff went into the second quarter with an attacking threat led by graduate attacker Manuel Augusto, but it wasn’t enough to keep Pepperdine down. The Waves kept up their impressive offensive display, ending the half with a 13-3 lead.
Junior attacker Adam Csapo ended the game with three goals, scoring all three in the first half. Coming from a loss last week, the team felt that defense was pivotal to getting back on track.
Csapo talked about the loss against USC prior to their second matchup with Westcliff. He pointed out their defensive performance in the loss, and how they’re looking to improve and come out stronger.
“We try to come out hard, play a defensive game, press hard, tire them out and go from there, counter out, see what happens on offense,” Csapo said.
The third quarter proved to be the closest quarter between the two teams, with Pepperdine scoring three goals and Westcliff scoring two.
Despite the low scoring, junior utility Milo Joseph, redshirt freshman center Bronson Birdsall and senior attacker Dane Howell achieved a multi-goal performance during the third quarter, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The Waves established a 16-5 lead going into the fourth quarter and rested some of their starting players to open the last quarter. Pepperdine’s bench players kept up the dominance, ending the game 20-7.
The Waves ended the game with 20 goals on 36 shots, compared to Westcliff’s seven goals on 31 shots. Pepperdine’s 20 goals came from 18 assists, while none of Westcliff’s seven came from an assist.
Pepperdine also beat Westcliff in steals with 12 to Westcliff’s seven and went 4-0 in sprints, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Csapo and Howell finished the game with three goals each, they tied for the match high on both sides, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Following this win, the Waves took on No. 13 UC Santa Barbara at home and picked up their second game of the day 15-13.
Fifth year attacker Christian Hosea was quick to get onto the scoreboard in an already impressive season. He went into the matchup tied most in the team for goals scored, with 16 goals in six games, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Hosea also achieved WCC All-Tournament honors last year, but said he doesn’t prioritize the individual accomplishments towards the end of his undergraduate career.
“That would be super nice, but I kind of want to see our team be successful over individual accomplishments,” Hosea said. “Winning an NCAA Championship would be super awesome, and that’s the goal that we’re shooting for right now.”
Pepperdine’s loss to USC ended their five game win streak to start the season.
This win over Westcliff is the beginning of a five game stretch over the course of three days, similar to the four game stretch the Waves had in two days during the Triton Invitational. During that stretch, the Waves went 4-0, including a close win over No. 2 UC Berkeley.
“I think we obviously did not play the way we wanted to play against USC, and you know, they definitely had a dominant win against us,” Moses said. “But, I think it woke our team up, and we realized we learned from it.”
Csapo, one of the teams’ captains, is not letting himself lose focus throughout the season, putting the focus on each game. Csapo headed into the season having been named to the All-WCC Preseason Team.
“Get one game at a time right now. It’s Santa Barbara, and then we’re playing someone else tomorrow, but the only thing we’re focused on right now is Santa Barbara,” Csapo said. “We use some games to prepare for it, but we obviously put in the work in practice, and then just go for the next game.”
Both Hosea and Csapo emphasized the team’s success being a primary motivator this season. This locker room culture seems to be a unified stance within the captains of the team, who are leading the players both in and out the water throughout the season.
Moses spoke to the players’ selflessness and the team’s togetherness as a motivating factor behind the team’s success. To Moses, team success trumps individual accomplishments.
“I think we have a great culture.” Moses said. “One of the quotes I started with at the beginning of the season that I said we’re going to live by is, ‘It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit,'”
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Contact Nick Charkhedian via email: nareg.charkhedian@pepperdine.edu
