DANIELLA BOSIO
Assistant Sports Editor
The fifth-ranked Pepperdine men’s water polo team fought from behind Saturday to try to capture a victory against UCLA at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, but ended up falling to the third-ranked Bruins 7-5. This game marked the fourth consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation loss for the Waves. The Bruins improved to 18-6 and 4-2 in MPSF play, while the Waves fell to 15-9 and 1-5 in MPSF play.
Saturday’s match marked the third meeting between the two teams, in which the Bruins hold a 3-0 series over the Waves.
Pepperdine started the game strong and tallied the first goal of the match at the 1:30 mark by senior All-American Jesse Smith. UCLA would not be able to score a single point until the last three seconds of the first period by sophomore Marco Santo.
The Bruins dominated most of the second half by scoring three goals and only allowing the Waves one goal. The Bruins were able to hold a 4-2 lead at halftime.
Once again the Bruins had a strong start in the third and scored the first goal of the period. Redshirt freshman Krsto Sbutega scored the first point of the third period to increase the Bruins lead to 5-2. The Waves retaliated with back-to-back goals from sophomore Adam Hewko to decrease the deficit to 5-4. Hewko’s goals came at the 5:41 and 2:49 marks of the third period. The Waves tried to keep the game within one point and were able to do so for the remaining time in the third period.
The Waves attacked as much as they could in the fourth period but only capitalized on one of their chances, while the Bruins scored two goals to finish the game with a two-point lead over Pepperdine. Redshirt junior Logan Powell scored a goal at the 4:43 mark of the fourth, and sophomore Justin Johnson finished the Bruins by scoring at the 2:47 mark to increase the lead to 7-4.
The Waves tried to come back, but were only able to score one goal in the fourth. Redshirt junior Doug Mann scored the final goal of the game at the 2:31 mark to decrease the deficit to 7-5.
Sbutega scored a hat trick for the Bruins with three goals, while Hewko and Smith both tabbed two goals a piece for the Waves.
Redshirt junior Will Didinger recorded seven saves in the net for the Bruins, while senior Ben Tait made nine saves for the Waves.
“I think we could have played a lot better,” sophomore Matt Digges said. “We were trying a lot of new plays that didn’t work out the first time but will help us in upcoming games. We still need to get our six-on-five plays to be automatic. I think games now will come down to six-on-five plays.”
This weekend, the Waves will look to record much needed wins at home against Pacific and Long Beach State so that they can earn a seed in the conference tournament at University of Southern California over Thanksgiving weekend. The two games this weekend will wrap up the Waves’ regular season and will prepare them for conference tournament play next week.
The Waves’ first match of the weekend will be against Pacific on Saturday at noon. This will be the first time Pepperdine has played Pacific this season. On Sunday, the Waves will play against Long Beach State at 1 p.m., which will also mark the first time Pepperdine has played Long Beach this season. Both games will be played at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
“The team is ready to play this weekend,” Digges said. “We are not out of it yet. We are better than we have been playing and we know it. The best thing about not playing well in conference is that the pressure is off; we are the underdog. We can start to play and have some fun.”
11-17-2005