The Pepperdine Waves men’s water polo team will have payback on their minds when they take to the pool for the first of the three games in four days.
Pepperdine will host UC Santa Barbara at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, 11 days after the Gauchos beat the Waves, 15-7, during the Mountain Pacific Invitational.
Pepperdine water polo coach Terry Schroeder said the Waves played “really flat” against the Gauchos the last weekend of September. The coach said the Waves will need to play good defense, keep the score low and not give up any counter attack scores in order to beat UCSB.
“I think the guys are really hungry to show Santa Barbara that the first game was a fluke game,” Schroeder said.
After facing the Gauchos, Pepperdine will play at USC on Friday at 5 p.m. and host Air Force on Sunday at 12 p.m.
The 8-5 Waves enter the three-game stretch on a four-game winless streak, which includes a tough 9-8 loss to the Pacific Tigers in overtime last Sunday at Pepperdine.
The back-and-forth scoring contest and Gold Coast Conference opener featured Pepperdine battling back from a two-point deficient in the second quarter and leading by one point late in the fourth quarter before the Tigers tied the game. Pacific was the only team to score in the two three-minute overtime periods. That allowed the visiting team to win the contest.
Schroeder said Pepperdine began the game a little nervous, but settled down in order to take good shots at the opposing goal.
“We tried to jam the ball in the middle a little too much, but when we realized the outside shooters are where we had to start — we had to score a few goals from the outside to open up the inside — we started to click a little better,” Schroeder said.
Pacific was up 3-1 in the second quarter, then Pepperdine scored consecutive goals to tie the game. The Tigers scored once more to gain a 4-3 lead at halftime. Pepperdine scored first in the third quarter, then scored again and led 5-4 with 4:24 left in the period.
Pepperdine scored twice more in the third quarter and Pacific scored once. The game was tied at the beginning of regulation’s last period.
Pacific’s Engin Ege Colak scored first in the fourth quarter, then Marko Asic scored for Pepperdine. Asic scored again after he received a pass from Kenneth Keller to give the Waves the lead at 8-7. However, three minutes later, Pacific’s Aleksander Petrovic scored and tied the game.
Pepperdine had a few chances to win the game in the last 2:30 of the fourth period, but had a shot saved and two turnovers.
Colak scored again in the first extra period to give Pacific the win.
The Waves head coach said Pepperdine had opportunities to win the contest.
“We had some really good looks at the cage,” Schroeder said. “Our team is young and we just have to learn to play in those critical moments.”
As of press time, Pepperdine was ranked ninth in the NCAA men’s water polo pole and Pacific was ranked fourth. Schroeder said the overtime loss was a confidence builder.
“We know we can play with one of the top four teams and we can beat them,” he said. “We have to look at a game like that and take away positives. We did what we needed to do to put ourselves in a position to win the game going down the stretch.”
Along with the sophomore Asic, senior Brock Liebhardt, junior Kenneth Keller and freshman Mate Toth each scored two goals for Pepperdine. Junior goal keeper Zach Rhodes had 18 saves for Pepperdine.
Pepperdine began the season last month with wins over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Redlands in the Triton Invitational. Pepperdine beat the two teams again in the Inland Empire Classic. The Waves also beat Chapman and La Verne in the tournament.
Pepperdine’s first loss of the season was to top-ranked UCLA in mid-September. The Waves then beat Loyola Marymount. Pepperdine beat 13th-ranked UC Irvine in the Mountain Pacific Invitational before falling to UCLA again, fifth-ranked Stanford and seventh-ranked UCSB.
Schroeder said Pepperdine will get better as the season continues.
“I’m happy with where we are at right now,” he said.