The Pepperdine men’s water polo team started its 2018 campaign in winning fashion over Labor Day Weekend.
The Waves, ranked eighth in national polls last weekend, knocked off No. 19 St. Francis Brooklyn, No. 11 Harvard and No. 20 Bucknell at the Sept. 1-2 Bruno Classic in Providence, R.I. Pepperdine was defeated by No.15 Brown in double overtime on the second day of the tournament.
The Waves will face Loyola Marymount and UC San Diego on Saturday at the WWPA vs GCC Challenge Cup at UC Irvine. The Waves play Loyola Marymount at 11:20 a.m. and UCSD at 4:50 p.m.
Pepperdine then has three more road contests before hosting UC Santa Barbara at 6 p.m. on Sept. 20.
Senior Chris Dilworth led the Waves in scores during the two-day event. The center scored 11 goals. He had two goals in Pepperdine’s 11-6 win over St. Francis the first day of the classic and had three goals in the team’s 9-6 win over Harvard later the same day.
Dilworth tallied three goals in Pepperdine’s 12-11 victory over Bucknell on day two of the water polo showcase. He also had three scores in Pepperdine’s 12-11 loss to Brown.
Pepperdine’s freshman attacker Sean Ferrari scored eight times during the weekend competition, and his classmate Curtis Jarvis, another attacker, scored seven times. Junior center back Mate Toth rang-up six goals.
In the five-point win over St. Francis Brooklyn, Dilworth and junior utility player George Mooney netted quick goals to give Pepperdine an early lead. In the second period, St. Francis took a one-point lead before Toth scored. Dilworth, Jarvis, and sophomore attacker Ian Holder scored in the third quarter to push Pepperdine to an 8-6 lead. Ferrari, redshirt senior utility player Sam Paur and Toth scored in the final quarter to cement Pepperdine’s win. Waves goalie John Claude Marco, a redshirt senior, had 13 saves.
Ferrari scored in the first period of his team’s win over Harvard. Paur also scored a first-quarter goal to give Pepperdine a 2-1 lead. Toth converted a five-meter penalty goal in the second quarter, but Harvard still led, 4-3, at halftime.
Ferrari, Mooney and Dilworth scored in the third quarter to give Pepperdine a 6-5 lead. In the fourth quarter, Dilworth scored twice—one net featured defenders swarming him—and Paur also scored. The Waves’ defense only allowed Harvard to score once. Pepperdine sophomore goalie Kyle McKenney had 13 saves.
Jarvis scored four straight goals in the third quarter of Pepperdine’s victory over Bucknell. Before Jarvis’ scoring spree, Mooney, Paur, Toth and Dilworth all put points on the board for the Waves. Dilworth scored again in the fourth quarter, before Bucknell netted for answered goals before the game closed with Pepperdine leading by one point. The Waves’ Marco had 11 saves.
Dilworth scored the only Pepperdine goal in the first quarter of their loss to Brown. Ferrari scored two of his four goals in the second quarter, but Pepperdine still trailed at halftime. Jarvis and Ferrari scored in the third quarter.
In the fourth period, freshman attacker Brian Barez tied the game at six with a minute left in the game. Brown led by two points after two penalty conversations, but Dilworth’s and Jarvis’ scores tied the game.
Jarvis scored again after Brown scored to send the game to overtime with the game knotted at nine. Dilworth put a point on the scoreboard for Pepperdine in the first extra period. Sophomore attacker Ian Holder tied the game at 11 in the second overtime, but Brown scored with one second on the clock to snatch the victory. McKenney had nine saves for the Waves.