#9 Waves Defeat #18 Broncos and Remain Undefeated in Conference Play
MALIBU, Calif. – The #9 Pepperdine men's water polo team defeated #18 Santa Clara 11-10 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on Friday afternoon to improve to 3-0 in conference play.
The Waves (18-6, 3-0) converted four of their six power plays and held the Broncos (11-8, 0-3) to a .143 6-on-5 percentage. Pepperdine also saved two penalty shots and took six more shots than Santa Clara.
BIG WAVES
After empty opening possessions for both teams, Benners drew an exclusion and Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) converted the 6-on-5 to put Pepperdine in front 1-0. Santa Clara knotted the game 1-1, but Gal put the Waves back in front with another power play goal. On the next possession, the Broncos tied the game with a 6-on-5 goal of their own. Pepperdine then regained the lead and took a 3-2 advantage into the second quarter after Erik Ionescu (Budapest, Hungary) connected with Gal who found the back of the net for a second time.
Bronson Birdsall (Kailua, Hawai'i) opened the scoring in the second quarter to put Pepperdine up 4-2. The Broncos then earned a penalty shot, but Smirnov came up with his first penalty save of the game to keep the momentum with the Waves. Clay Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Christian Hosea (San Clemente, Calif.) capped off the Waves four-goal run with two more scores to make it a 6-2 game in favor of Pepperdine. Santa Clara battled back and made it a two-goal game heading into the break, 6-4.
Kaneko and Hosea opened the second half with back-to-back goals to help the Waves rebuild their four-goal lead. Santa Clara then found their first goal of the second half and was threatening again with another penalty shot midway through the third quarter. Smirnov once again saved a penalty to bring the momentum back to Pepperdine and keep the Waves in front 8-5. Hosea then earned his hat-trick to put the Waves back up by four with 1:00 left in the period, but the Broncos kept fighting and made it a 9-6 game with eight minutes left to play.
The two teams traded goals to open the final period as Hosea found the back of the cage for a fourth time. Gal then earned his hat-trick to put Pepperdine up 11-7 with 4:08 remaining. The Broncos continued to battle, but a few more saves from Smirnov helped the Waves hold an 11-9 advantage with less than 30 seconds to play. Santa Clara came up with a steal and scored a late goal, but Pepperdine would go on to win the contest 11-10.
The Waves were led by Hosea and Gal who both earned hat-tricks in the game. Hosea picked up his thirteenth such game of the year, while Gal collected his fourth performance of at least three goals this season.
SC 2-2-2-4 — 10
PEPP 3-3-3-2 — 11
Pepperdine goals: Christian Hosea 4, Sandor Gal 3, Clay Kaneko 2, Bronson Birdsall 1, Adam Csapo 1.
UP NEXT
With three games remaining in the regular season, Pepperdine will move into the second half of conference play with a home contest against #15 California Baptist on Sunday, November 3 at 12 p.m. Tickets to the game can be purchased here. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and a link to the stream can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
The Waves and Lancers both head into Sunday's pivotal matchup with a 3-0 record in WCC play and are tied at the top of the standings. #5 Pacific is also undefeated at 2-0.
FOLLOW
Follow @PeppWaterPolo on X for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/PeppWaterPolo) for releases and more information. Find the Waves on Instagram @peppwaterpolo.
The Waves (18-6, 3-0) converted four of their six power plays and held the Broncos (11-8, 0-3) to a .143 6-on-5 percentage. Pepperdine also saved two penalty shots and took six more shots than Santa Clara.
BIG WAVES
- Redshirt freshman Jackson Benners (Dallas, Texas) picked up three assists, two steals and earned one exclusion.
- Junior attacker Sandor Gal (Budapest, Hungary) had three goals and four steals.
- Fifth year attacker Christian Hosea (San Clemente, Calif.) tallied a game-high four goals as well as one drawn exclusion and one steal.
- Senior attacker Clay Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif.) posted two goals and a steal.
- Freshman goalie Max Smirnov (Petah Tikva, Israel) had two penalty shot saves to go along with 10 total saves, three steals and a .500 save percentage.
After empty opening possessions for both teams, Benners drew an exclusion and Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) converted the 6-on-5 to put Pepperdine in front 1-0. Santa Clara knotted the game 1-1, but Gal put the Waves back in front with another power play goal. On the next possession, the Broncos tied the game with a 6-on-5 goal of their own. Pepperdine then regained the lead and took a 3-2 advantage into the second quarter after Erik Ionescu (Budapest, Hungary) connected with Gal who found the back of the net for a second time.
Bronson Birdsall (Kailua, Hawai'i) opened the scoring in the second quarter to put Pepperdine up 4-2. The Broncos then earned a penalty shot, but Smirnov came up with his first penalty save of the game to keep the momentum with the Waves. Clay Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Christian Hosea (San Clemente, Calif.) capped off the Waves four-goal run with two more scores to make it a 6-2 game in favor of Pepperdine. Santa Clara battled back and made it a two-goal game heading into the break, 6-4.
Kaneko and Hosea opened the second half with back-to-back goals to help the Waves rebuild their four-goal lead. Santa Clara then found their first goal of the second half and was threatening again with another penalty shot midway through the third quarter. Smirnov once again saved a penalty to bring the momentum back to Pepperdine and keep the Waves in front 8-5. Hosea then earned his hat-trick to put the Waves back up by four with 1:00 left in the period, but the Broncos kept fighting and made it a 9-6 game with eight minutes left to play.
The two teams traded goals to open the final period as Hosea found the back of the cage for a fourth time. Gal then earned his hat-trick to put Pepperdine up 11-7 with 4:08 remaining. The Broncos continued to battle, but a few more saves from Smirnov helped the Waves hold an 11-9 advantage with less than 30 seconds to play. Santa Clara came up with a steal and scored a late goal, but Pepperdine would go on to win the contest 11-10.
The Waves were led by Hosea and Gal who both earned hat-tricks in the game. Hosea picked up his thirteenth such game of the year, while Gal collected his fourth performance of at least three goals this season.
SC 2-2-2-4 — 10
PEPP 3-3-3-2 — 11
Pepperdine goals: Christian Hosea 4, Sandor Gal 3, Clay Kaneko 2, Bronson Birdsall 1, Adam Csapo 1.
UP NEXT
With three games remaining in the regular season, Pepperdine will move into the second half of conference play with a home contest against #15 California Baptist on Sunday, November 3 at 12 p.m. Tickets to the game can be purchased here. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and a link to the stream can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
The Waves and Lancers both head into Sunday's pivotal matchup with a 3-0 record in WCC play and are tied at the top of the standings. #5 Pacific is also undefeated at 2-0.
FOLLOW
Follow @PeppWaterPolo on X for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/PeppWaterPolo) for releases and more information. Find the Waves on Instagram @peppwaterpolo.
