In the 2023 season, Pepperdine Men’s Water Polo finished an impressive 2023 season with 25 wins and six losses and a 5-1 conference record. Despite this improvement from the season before, the team suffered a semifinal exit in the WCC Championships.
Pepperdine entered that semifinal match as the first seed against fourth seed California Baptist University. The Lancers pulled off the upset, ending the Waves’ season shorter than the team anticipated.
This loss resonated with the team and taught them a lesson toward the next season. This year, Head Coach Merrill Moses is keeping the squad’s eyes on the prize: the postseason.
“You got to learn from your mistakes, and obviously last year we had great success, and then had an upset at the end against us,” Moses said. “We’re definitely focusing towards the end of the year, and the guys are training extremely hard.”
Moses knows exactly what kind of drive the players need to not just win a WCC Championship, but a NCAA Championship. Moses is an Olympic medalist, winning silver at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics for the United States and was part of Pepperdine’s 1997 NCAA Championship squad as a player.
Moses joined the Pepperdine coaching staff in 2012 but it wasn’t until March of 2024 that Moses was elevated to the team’s head coach. Moses knows what it’s like to win and he’s keeping that winning culture as a focal point in his locker room.
“The reason you play is to win the whole thing, and that’s the reason I’m here to coach,” Moses said. “I won a championship with Pepperdine in ’97 and definitely would love nothing more than to bring a championship back to Pepperdine as a coach.”
During the 2024 preseason, Pepperdine was polled to finish third amongst WCC teams in the WCC Water Polo Preseason Coaches poll. One player, junior attacker Adam Csapo, was named to the preseason team.
The Waves kicked off their season at the Triton Invitational, winning four games in two days. For three of those games, the Waves dominated the scoreboard, scoring more than 20 goals and keeping their opponents under 10 goals.
The third of those four games saw the Waves clash with No. 2 UC Berkeley, in a match that went past overtime to the sudden death period. Pepperdine came out on top and made a statement in the league.
Following their impressive 4-0 start, Pepperdine emerged as a top five team in the national rankings. The Waves had a week to prepare for a big weekend, where they played No. 16 Loyola Marymount University and No. 3 University of Southern California.
The Waves took the win in the first match against LMU, but fell short to USC, taking their first loss on the season.
Throughout Pepperdine’s first 12 games this season, that loss was the only time the Waves had allowed more than 15 goals and had scored less than 10.
The team needed to address the defensive breakdown in the match and improve ahead of a tough stretch of five games in three days.
“What’s more important is how we treated that loss,” Csapo said. “So obviously, some days you win, some days you lose. You got to make sure you learn those days too.”
The following games were the perfect opportunity for Pepperdine to bounce back with a strong statement, and that’s exactly what they did.
The Waves started off by hosting Westcliff in their second meeting this season, winning that match 20-7. Later that same day, they had a closer battle with No. 13 UC Santa Barbara and prevailed 15-13.
At the end of the day, Moses wants the team have fun. As a team, he’s set a standard of striving for success and excellence and he wants his players to achieve that as a family, with the players ready to play for each other. Csapo, a team captain, said he views the team’s success as a priority.
“If I don’t get any selections this year, doesn’t matter,” Csapo said. “As long as the team is there and I was able to help the team out, that’s all that matters.”
They began the WCC Big West Challenge with a matchup against CBU, their first time facing the team since the upset in last year’s WCC playoffs. The Waves took the win in the rematch, ending the game 14-9.
The following day, the Waves had another rematch, this time against UCSB, who they faced just two days prior. The Waves won again, 13-11, and followed it up with a win against Cal State University, Fullerton later in the day, with the same scoreline.
Following the Waves’ five wins in three days, freshman attacker Erik Ionescu was named the WCC Newcomer of the Week, with an impressive week highlighted by five goals and seven assists.
Despite Ionescu being a newcomer, he’s found his place in the squad quickly, and even feels the sting from last season’s upset.
“Even if I wasn’t there, I’m just going to say that I can feel the pressure of the loss that happened last year,” said Ionescu. “And of course, I’m here to try and help the team, and we’re all going to help each other to overcome that.”
Ionescu said he feels the brotherhood in the squad, and pointed out how win or lose, his teammates have his back.
To end the month of September, the Waves had two top ten matchups in two days at home. The first came against No. 9 Long Beach State University.
Pepperdine took their eleventh win on the season against LBSU, led by fifth year attacker Christian Hosea career-high seven goal performance. The match ended 15-12.
The following day, Pepperdine faced No. 3 Stanford. The Waves lost this matchup 11-14, ending their undefeated home record and giving them their second loss on the season.
The Waves have now gone through their first 13 matches and have arrived around the halfway point of the season, placing them at an 11-2 record so far.
This season marked back-to-back 5-0 starts to the year, but this time Pepperdine is looking to add another NCAA trophy to the cabinet.
“If we’re not there at the NCAA tournament at the end of the year, I view it as a failure and I feel like everyone else on the team does as well,” Csapo said.
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Contact Nick Charkhedian via email: nareg.charkhedian@pepperdine.edu
