By Erica Sigman
Staff Writer
Sophomore utilityman Jesse Smith scored the game-winning goal in the fourth quarter to give Pepperdine yet another narrow victory last weekend.
No.6 ranked Pepperdine traveled to La Jolla Sunday afternoon defeating No. 12 University of California San Diego 5-4.
The Wave’s overall record now stands at 11-7 after a dominant win over Long Beach State and a heart-wrenching loss to Loyola Marymount in sudden death overtime.
UCSD came out strong, scoring the first goal of the game. The Waves went scoreless in the first quarter giving the Tritons the advantage. It wasn’t long until Pepperdine responded. Senior driver William Rodriguez tied the game at the half 1-1 for the Waves.
Junior two-meter man Michael Hausmann and Smith scored two consecutive goals in the third quarter, giving the Waves a lead of 4-2.
The match was tied for the Tritons by sophomore Brandon Borso, however, the Waves prevailed with 16 seconds left in the game.
Junior goalkeeper Michael Soltis ensured the Waves win, rejecting 10 shots on goal and allowing few goals.
“We only let up four goals,” Soltis said. “Our defense was really good.”
While the Waves came home feeling the satisfaction of victory, the coaching staff didn’t feel as if it was the team’s best performance.
“We missed a lot of opportunities,” Assistant Coach Alex Rodriguez said. “The game was closer than it should’ve been.”
The Waves traveled to LB State on Saturday, defeating the No. 9 ranked 49ers 11-6. Pepperdine improved to 5-1 in league play.
Senior two-meter man Karl Niehaus and junior driver Jeremy Grubbs scored two consecutive goals to give the Waves a 6-4 lead at the half. Rodriquez and sophomore two-meter man Josh Acosta also scored two consecutive goals in the third quarter to improve the Wave’s advantage 8-4.
The 49ers came back scoring one goal in the third quarter, but Pepperdine quickly responded with three goals in the fourth quarter to win the game. The staff said the team’s competitive edge was dominant in the LB State game.
“We were disappointed with the outcome of previous games,” Rodriguez said. “We were wanting to prove that it was a fluke loss to LMU.”
No. 7 ranked LMU hosted the Waves Thursday afternoon, defeating them 7-6 in sudden death overtime.
Smith scored the first goal for Pepperdine, but Loyola got a head start, leading 4-2 at the half. Niehaus tied the game at 4-4 in the third quarter for the Waves.
The Waves were tied with the Lions 5-5 going into overtime. Both the Waves and the Lions put up one goal each in the first two overtime periods. LMU junior Ryan Chapatte scored the game-winning goal in sudden death overtime for the Lions. The Waves said they went into the game overly confident.
“We didn’t come out mentally prepared at all,” Soltis said. “We thought it was going to be a breeze, we didn’t give them any respect.”
Soltis’ fellow teammates agree that they didn’t play like they did when defeating the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the nation.
“The team did not execute our game plan,” Hausmann said.
Coaches said the team’s mental game wasn’t completely there.
“I don’t know how focused we were,” Rodriguez said. “We lost our composure.”
Despite the minor slip up, the Waves’ improvement shows in their overall record. They have high hopes for the remainder of the season, as they prepare to travel to University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Berkeley and University of the Pacific over the next two weekends.
“These next two games are crucial,” Rodriguez said. “If we win both, we’ll be No. 1 in our league.”
October 31, 2002