SHUHEI MATSUO
Assitant Sports Editor
Chase Heger/Staff Photographer
Facing two of the top-ranked teams in the nation this weekend, the Pepperdine water polo team hoped to make a miracle for the final weekend at home for this campaign.
However, fourth-ranked UCLA and the nation’s best, University of Southern California, sank the Waves’ hope deep in the pool when they defeated Pepperdine 18-5 and 15-4, respectively.
The two weekend losses dropped Pepperdine to 12-16 overall and 1-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), while the Bruins improved to 12-5 (3-2 MPSF) with Saturday’s victory. Sunday’s win kept the Trojans’ undefeated record for the season alive with 22 overall and seven MPSF wins.
Losing both games for the season’s last weekend in Malibu, Head Coach Jack Kocur needed only a couple of words to describe his players’ performances this weekend.
“Extremely disappointing,” he said with a small laugh.
Chase Heger/Staff Photographer
He also said that playing the top two teams in the nation at home, the team was somewhat timid.
For the seniors, Sunday’s Senior Day was the last home game of their college careers. Despite the major loss to USC, there was no regret for junior Tom Stricklen.
“I think we’ve been preparing pretty well for the past two weeks,” he said. “We knew we were going up against No.-1 USC and No.-3 UCLA, and we really went into them with the have-fun aspect.”
Recognizing his college water polo career is about to end, Stricklen described his experience at Pepperdine as a “family atmosphere.”
“Every single individual on the team is a really good friend,” he said. “It’s always playing for your friend. That aspect has been always throughout the team. We just need to stick for that togetherness.”
Chase Heger/Staff Photographer
Even though the have-fun/family aspect did not work well enough to beat UCLA and USC this weekend, there is another game left for Pepperdine on Sunday before it concludes its regular-season action. And it’s a must-win match for the Waves against UC Santa Barbara to extend their campaign to the postseason. However, UCSB has beaten Pepperdine in the previous three meetings this season.
“The mind set [for the game against UCSB] is to think ‘we can do it,’” Kocur said. “I mean, we played Santa Barbara two good games, and I definitely feel like we can beat them.”
Echoing his coach, Stricklen said Sunday’s game will depend on the youth of the team.
“We always play to win, but these are great experiences for younger players,” he said. “And we are just going to bring it at Santa Barbara.”
Santa Barbara is ranked higher than Pepperdine. But that does not mean there is no chance for the Waves to capture a spot in the MPSF tournament the following week. In fact, they have an ability to come back like they did Sunday against USC when they overscored the perfect team during the last period 4-1.
“I definitely feel like these guys, after this weekend, are going to take that choice,” Kocur said. “Whether the choice that they are going to show up and train really hard or they have a choice to just let the season go.”
Pepperdine’s regular-season finale against UCSB begins Sunday at 1 p.m. in Santa Barbara.
11-16-2006
