On Sept. 28, Pepperdine Men’s Water Polo hosted No. 9 Long Beach State in a home match at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. No. 4 Pepperdine entered the match 10-1 against No. 9 LBSU in the first match of a two game weekend for the Waves.
Fifth year attacker Christian Hosea had a phenomenal day for the Waves, highlighted by his career-high seven goals on a 1.000 shooting percentage.
Pepperdine took the lead early when Hosea struck within the first minute of the game. Long Beach fought back hard and tied the game up at one apiece, but efforts from Hosea and junior attacker Adam Csapo pushed the Waves to a 3-1 lead.
Long Beach fought back once again and tied the game up at 3-3, and the Waves answered with a pair of their own to take the lead 5-3.
Towards the end of the first half, Long Beach brought the score within one goal, but the Waves put multiple past Long Beach’s keeper.
The Waves reached a lead of 8-4, and after some more goals from both sides, the half ended with the Waves leading Long Beach 10-7.
Long Beach opened the scoring in the second half, and Pepperdine responded with three unanswered goals. The Waves held a lead of 13-8 halfway through the third quarter.
Hosea scored one of those three unanswered goals, which gave him his sixth of the game, reaching his career-high in goals.
Before the end of the third quarter, the Waves would concede a goal and head into the fourth quarter with a 13-9 lead.
Long Beach was the first team on the board in the fourth quarter with three goals, coming within striking distance of Pepperdine, trailing just 13-11. However, Hosea would add to an already sensational performance with his seventh goal of the day, pushing the lead to 14-11 and sealing the win for the Waves.
Both teams would swap goals to end the game, and the Waves took the victory 15-12.
Pepperdine ended the game with 15 goals on 29 shots, with 12 of those coming from an assist. Long Beach scored 12 goals on 34 shots, with five of those coming from an assist, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Pepperdine’s defense was highlighted by their 14 steals to Long Beach’s seven. Pepperdine ended the game 1-3 in sprints as Long Beach ended the game 3-1 in sprints, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Hosea led the team in points, accumulating seven through seven goals on seven shots.
Csapo followed Hosea with six points, coming from three goals on 10 shots and three assists.
Sophomore utility Jon Carcarey ended the game with two points, with one goal from four shots and one assist.
When it came to power plays, the Waves converted six of 11 opportunities and didn’t allow LBSU to convert any of their eight opportunities.
Following the win, Pepperdine moved to 11-1 on the season. On Sept. 29, Pepperdine took their second loss of the season to No. 3 Stanford, 11-14.
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Email Nick Charkhedian: nareg.charkhedian@pepperdine.edu
