SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Editor
The Pepperdine men’s water polo team made a solid start in its 2007 campaign when it won the first three games at the Triton Invitational in San Diego this weekend. However, the Waves faced their first loss of the season during the championship game against UC Santa Barbara when they fell to the Gauchos 7-6 on Sunday.
Redshirt junior Matt Digges said the main cause for the loss was a lack of intensity.
“First three games, it was all intense, we were there, the team working as one,” he said. “And the last game, the intensity wasn’t brought from the beginning. When you don’t have any intensity, you can’t expect to win.”
During Saturday’s season opener against Cal Baptist, the Waves, led by last year’s redshirts, dominated the Lancers 16-9 to boost the team confidence. Redshirt junior Adam Hewko led the scoring charge with four goals, while other redshirt juniors Digges, Matt MacDonell and Grant Miller contributed to the victory by scoring two goals each.
Pepperdine faced UC Davis later that day and powered past the Aggies 13-6.
For Sunday morning’s semifinal match, the Waves took down the cross-town rival Loyola Marymount and advanced to the final match when they beat the Lions 10-4. However, the momentum was stopped in the afternoon when Santa Barbara sank Pepperdine to capture the championship title.
“We are definitely not satisfied with the results because we had such high expectations,” said junior Matt Lee, who started Game 2 against UC Davis on Saturday. Even though the team came short of winning the first tournament of the season as expected, “it was a very humbling experience,” Lee added.
Assistant Coach William Rodriguez said the team chemistry was key to dropping the championship game.
“I think it had a little bit to do with having some guys who hadn’t spent too much time with the team,” he added.
In fact, some of the main players like Hewko and sophomore J.P. MacDonell spent most of their summer playing with the U.S. national and junior national teams, respectively. It was also the first collegiate tournament for Hewko, Matt MacDonell, Digges and Miller since 2005.
However, it certainly is a positive element to have those long-missed players back on the team, Rodriguez said.
“It was great [to have them back] because they provided leadership and directions for other players to follow,” he added.
The players feel the same way.
“Every year I get excited about the water polo season, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about a season before,” Miller said. “Myself, Adam, Digges and MacDonell have been waiting for a year and a half to play with the team again. We’ve been really excited about this season.”
Digges also said he is glad to be playing with the team again.
“I think it was a good first tournament for the guys that got back to get in there and start, not too heavy of a tournament,” he said. “It was good to get all the jitters and all that out.”
The Waves are competing against Santa Barbara again at the first game of this weekend’s Inland Empire Tournament in Redlands, Calif.
“We definitely have to execute better and be more aggressive,” Rodriguez said about facing the Gauchos on Saturday.
Playing against Santa Barbara is important, but Miller and senior Nick Corjon have special feelings about this tournament.
“It’ll be a lot of fun,” said Miller, who will be playing in his hometown this weekend. “It’s always fun to go back out there because water polo is not very big out in where I’m from.”
Corjon echoed his hometown teammate.
“I’m going back to my roots,” he said. “I’m just really excited to play in the pool that I first started in.”
09-06-2007
