When No. 4 Pepperdine started their Sept. 19 game against No. 13 University of California, Santa Barbara, the Waves did not look like they had just finished another game only hours prior.
Pepperdine hosted the Gauchos for a midweek rivalry match up at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. The Waves came away with a close win in a 15-13 final score.
“It was a good team win where our guys battled,” Head Coach Merrill Moses said.
The home team started off hot. After winning the opening swim-off, Pepperdine immediately kept the momentum moving forward.
Starting fifth-year attacker Christian Hosea scored the first goal of the game only 18 seconds in. Starting junior attacker Sandor Gal backed Hosea up with two goals to give the Waves an early 3-0 lead.
The visitors weren’t going to go quietly. They responded in less than a minute with a goal of their own. They tacked on another with around three minutes of the first quarter remaining to close in on the home team’s lead.
Hosea proved to be an offensive threat, as he scored two more goals before the first quarter ended to secure a hat trick on the game.
“It was really my teammates setting me up really well,” Hosea said. “I just try and do what I can to help the team.”
Santa Barbara added two more to keep themselves within one score of the Waves, as it was 5-4 after the first quarter of play.
The second quarter started off with a UCSB goal from redshirt freshman center Dom Brown. Brown was held to one goal on the game, despite the Gauchos being a center heavy team.
“I like to play aggressive, and I like to try and get in their head,” Starting freshman goalie Jaxon Leach said. “Nothing’s better than blocking a center and having them swim back on defense with the guard right in front of them.”
Starting junior attacker Adam Csapo responded to Brown’s goal with his first of the game less than a minute later.
UCSB tied it up at six each with 5:30 left in the half. A minute later, junior utility Milo Joseph gave the Waves the lead again.
Leach helped the home team stay up thanks to a big block. He finished with 13 saves on the day, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
After a Pepperdine timeout with three minutes left, Csapo came out and scored his second goal of the game.
The visitors took a timeout of their own, which also resulted in them scoring a goal with less than 30 seconds on the clock.
With the Waves only being up 8-7, starting freshman attacker Erik Ionescu gave Pepperdine one more with four seconds left in the half.
The second half was a bit slower than the first, as the teams scored six goals each throughout the final two quarters.
Hosea tacked on his fourth and final goal of the game in the third quarter, followed by Gal securing a hat trick of his own.
Ionescu also had a goal in the third quarter, while the Gauchos managed to score four to stay close with the Waves. The score was 12-11 heading into the final quarter of play.
Csapo got the scoring going in the fourth quarter, as he converted a five meter penalty to complete his hat trick, as well.
Three minutes would go by before there was another score, this time courtesy of Joseph, who recorded his second goal with 3:36 left.
This goal sparked a little momentum in the pool. The Waves built up a beautiful pass play starting with Leach in the back and ending with Gal scoring his fourth and final goal of the game.
Trailing by four with three minutes left, the Gauchos tried to pick things up a bit. Despite the high energy from the bench, some words were exchanged in the pool that resulted in visiting Head Coach Wolf Wigo being issued a yellow card.
The Waves worked on maintaining their composure and closing out the game.
“Each and every one of the coaches tell us, ‘You have to control your emotions no matter what the situation is,’” Hosea said. “So, we’ve kind of really tried to put an emphasis on that going throughout the season.”
The Gauchos scored two more goals in the final minutes but it wasn’t enough, as Pepperdine came away with a 15-13 win over their local rival.
“A lot of guys contributed,” Leach said. “It was a good team win, for sure, but [we] got to play better defense than that.”
Despite the win, Moses agreed with Leach and said his team needs to play better defense moving forward.
“We should be able to win games if we hold our opposing team to single digits,” Moses said. “We didn’t do that today, but I think we’re having good momentum.”
Moses said his team was working on being patient throughout the game.
“We don’t want to play to the tempo of our opponents,” Moses said. “If we’re patient and run good offense and have great stops on defense, we’re going to win those games.”
The Waves host Long Beach State on Sept. 28 with game time set for noon. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive a WCC Champion Rally Towel.
“We love to see fans in the crowds. The guys love people cheering them on,” Moses said.
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