Jeff Golden
Water Polo Heads to Stockton for WCC Tournament
MALIBU, Calif. — The #8 Pepperdine men's water polo team is headed to Stockton, California for the West Coast Conference Tournament this weekend.
The Waves will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and be matched up with PCH Cup rival and the No. 7 seed Loyola Marymount Lions in the opening round on Friday morning.
GAME #28 (WCC Tournament Round 1) — #8 Pepperdine (20-7, 5-1) vs. #19 Loyola Marymount (9-15, 0-6) | Friday, Nov. 22 | 10 a.m. | Eberhardt Aquatics Center | Stockton, Calif.
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT — The Waves are currently 50-9 all-time against the Lions and have picked up two wins against them this year. Pepperdine has also won the last four contests between the two teams. This season, Loyola Marymount is 9-15 and the Lions enter the conference tournament as the #7 seed.
WCC TOURNAMENT SEEDS — 1. Pacific; 2. Pepperdine; 3. San Jose State; 4. California Baptist; 5. Santa Clara; 6. Air Force; 7. LMU.
WHAT'S AT STAKE — In all likelihood, the West Coast Conference will be a one bid league to the NCAA Tournament, and only the winner of the conference tournament will make it to the big dance this year.
2024 WCC PRESEASON POLL — The WCC preseason poll, as decided by the league's coaches, went as follows: Pacific, San Jose State, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, California Baptist, Santa Clara, Air Force.
WCC HISTORY — Pepperdine won a share of the first regular season WCC Title in 2023, while San Jose State won the inaugural WCC Tournament last year.
SCHEDULE — With a win on Friday, Pepperdine will move into the semifinals of the conference tournament and play on Saturday at 11 a.m. against either #13 San Jose State or Air Force. If the Waves manage to make it to the championship game, they will play on Sunday at 1 p.m. Any loss in the tournament will end the Waves stay in Stockton, and it will likely be the end of the season for Pepperdine.
PCH CUP — An annual all-sport competition between two local rivals that are separated by just 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, the PCH Cup is in its 16th season of existence. Pepperdine has won 12 of the 15 years that this competition has been held.
ONLINE — All WCC Tournament games will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). The games will also have live stats, and links to the live stats and streams for all Pepperdine games can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com. Links for all other WCC Tournament games can be found here.
SOCIAL MEDIA — 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.
POTENTIAL MATCHUPS
#5 PACIFIC — Pepperdine is 58-38-1 all-time against Pacific, while the Tigers have won seven out of the last eight matchups between the teams. Pacific defeated Pepperdine 14-8 last Saturday to claim the top seed in the conference tournament this weekend. This season, Pacific is 17-1 and has collected 14 wins over ranked teams, including four wins over top-10 teams. Their only loss came in a neutral site game against Fordham, who is currently ranked third in the country.
#13 SAN JOSE STATE — The Waves are 23-8 all-time in games against the Spartans, which includes a 13-10 win over San Jose State on November 9 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. Pepperdine is also 6-4 all-time against San Jose State in neutral site games. This season, the Spartans are 15-6 and have collected nine wins over ranked opponents. San Jose State enters the conference tournament as the #3 seed.
#16 CALIFORNIA BAPTIST — Pepperdine is 13-1 all-time against California Baptist and has already defeated the Lancers twice this year. Additionally, the Waves are a perfect 7-0 in neutral site contests against the Lancers. This season, California Baptist is 20-12 and has earned four ranked victories, including a 12-11 win over #5 UC Irvine on October 9. The Lancers enter the conference tournament as the #4 seed.
#17 SANTA CLARA — The Waves are 13-2 all-time against the Broncos and have won the last four contests between the two teams. Pepperdine is 5-1 against Santa Clara all-time in neutral site games. The Waves defeated the Broncos 11-10 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on November 1. The Broncos are 13-10 this year, and they have three wins over ranked teams during the 2024 campaign. Santa Clara enters the tournament as the #5 seed.
AIR FORCE — Pepperdine is 47-4 all-time against Air Force and the Waves have won the last 18 contests against the Falcons. Pepperdine holds a 16-1 record against Air Force in neutral site games and the Waves also beat the Falcons 24-13 earlier this year. This season, Air Force is 13-19 and the Falcons enter the tournament as the #6 seed.
MOSES — Merrill Moses, a three-time Olympian, former All-American and national champion water polo player for the Waves, was elevated to head coach in March 2024. This season will be his first year as the head coach and his 13th on staff. Over the past 12 years, the Waves are 179-138 (.565) and have won four conference titles, including a most recent regular season crown last season.
HUNGARY FOR SUCCESS — The Waves have three standout players all hailing from Budapest, Hungary in juniors Adam Csapo and Sandor Gal as well as freshman Erik Ionescu.
Csapo is no stranger to success having already been a two-time All-American honorable mention and two-time All-Conference second team award winner. He was named to the All-WCC Preseason Team for the second straight year and has already tallied 61 goals and a team-leading 45 assists this year - including a game-high five goals against #3 USC.
In his two years as a Wave, Gal has never missed a game and has been a staple in the Pepperdine lineup. He scored a total of 58 goals and dished out 72 assists in his first two seasons. This season, Gal has tallied 35 goals and 32 assists on a .434 shooting percentage. He had four goals and three assists in the 15-13 win over #13 UCSB on September 19.
Making an immediate impact for the Waves in his debut season, Ionescu has been named the WCC Newcomer of the Week three times, once for his performances at the Triton Invitational, again after he helped the Waves win five games in three days and another time for his performances against #11 Princeton and Air Force in the conference opener. He's dished out 34 assists and found the back of the net 46 times so far this season.
100 CLUB — Christian Hosea and Adam Csapo have both tallied over 100 career goals having found the back of the net 181 and 174 times respectively. Hosea is tied for 14th on the all-time scoring list for the Waves, while Csapo is currently tied for 19th on the list.
AWARDS — Four Waves earned West Coast Conference postseason honors this season. Not only did Erik Ionescu garner the Freshman of the Year award, but he also made the honorable mention squad. Christian Hosea made the All-WCC first team, Adam Csapo received a second team nod and Sandor Gal made the honorable mention team.
Pepperdine also won seven WCC weekly awards this year. Most recently, Max Smirnov swept the conference's weekly honors winning both the WCC Player of the Week and the WCC Newcomer of the Week awards on November 12. Erik Ionescu won three WCC Newcomer of the Week awards - October 22, September 24 and September 10. Christian Hosea garnered the WCC Player of the Week award on October 1 and Jon Carcarey was named the WCC Player of the Week on September 10.
Smirnov recorded an impressive 16 saves while holding San Jose State to just 10 goals on a .294 shooting percentage. He also posted an incredible .615 save percentage and tallied two steals against the Spartans.
Ionescu tallied nine goals, two assists, three steals and one field block in his first weekend of collegiate water polo. He then posted five goals, seven assists, 12 points, four steals and two drawn exclusions before earning his second weekly award of the year. Then for his third award of the year, Ionescu had eight goals, two assists, 10 points, two steals, one earned exclusion, one field block and a sprint win, all while posting an impressive .800 shooting percentage.
Hosea scored 12 goals including a career-high seven goals in the 15-12 win over #9 Long Beach State. He also drew six exclusions and had a steal in his week of work for the Waves, all while posting an impressive .750 shooting percentage.
Carcarey totaled 12 goals, two drawn exclusions, two field blocks, one steal and the game-winning golden goal against California at the Triton Invitational.
ROSTER NUMBERS — The Waves' 28-man roster breakdown is two fifth years, four seniors, five juniors, two redshirt sophomores, three sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and eight freshmen. Pepperdine returns 19 players from last year's roster, including 2023 All-American honorable mention Adam Csapo. The Waves also add 9 newcomers, including a freshman goalie from Israel in Max Smirnov.
LAST SEASON — Pepperdine went 25-6 in the fall of 2023, won a share of the regular season WCC Championship, and finished ranked tied for seventh in the country in the final CWPA poll of the year. The Waves picked up wins against five top-10 teams last season including #4 Princeton on September 24. Pepperdine also swept the WCC Postseason top honors as Antonio Knez won the Player of the Year, Ryan Brosnan garnered the Newcomer of the Year and Terry Schroeder won the Coach of the Year award. Three Waves earned All-American honors, Brosnan and Knez garnered a spot on the third team, while Adam Csapo picked up an honorable mention nod. Brosnan and Knez also made the All-WCC first team while Csapo and Nico Tierney collected All-WCC second team honors.
WATER POLO HISTORY — Pepperdine won the NCAA title in 1997, which was the last time a school other than California, Stanford, UCLA or USC won the championship. The Waves' exceptional water polo history also includes 13 conference titles, a top-10 ranking in 47 of the last 48 years and a top-five finish 21 times. Pepperdine has had 63 players earn All-American honors a total of 112 times. Three Waves — Mike Grier (1984), Geoffrey Clark (1991) and Alan Herrmann (1997) — were named the national player of the year. Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool hosted the 1984 Olympic water polo competition and the 2000 NCAA Championships.
GROUP OPPORTUNITIES — Interested in bringing your group out to a Pepperdine Athletics event? Unique experiences include anthem buddies, national anthem performances, fan tunnels, halftime performances and more. Group tickets (15+ tickets) and experiences are available, beginning at $5 per person for women's volleyball, men's water polo and women's soccer. Those interested in purchasing group tickets can fill out this form or reach out to the ticket office via e-mail wavestix@pepperdine.edu or phone (866) WAVE-TIX.
JR. WAVES — Register your kid(s) to join Pepperdine's official kids club, "Jr. Waves" for the 2024-2025 academic year. Jr. Waves receive an exclusive t-shirt, membership card and a lanyard that grants free general admission to all Pepperdine ticketed sporting events. Memberships start at $100 per kid.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 20 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 26 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, four times (most recently in 2022-23). Located in scenic Malibu, California, the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #80 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
The Waves will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and be matched up with PCH Cup rival and the No. 7 seed Loyola Marymount Lions in the opening round on Friday morning.
GAME #28 (WCC Tournament Round 1) — #8 Pepperdine (20-7, 5-1) vs. #19 Loyola Marymount (9-15, 0-6) | Friday, Nov. 22 | 10 a.m. | Eberhardt Aquatics Center | Stockton, Calif.
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT — The Waves are currently 50-9 all-time against the Lions and have picked up two wins against them this year. Pepperdine has also won the last four contests between the two teams. This season, Loyola Marymount is 9-15 and the Lions enter the conference tournament as the #7 seed.
WCC TOURNAMENT SEEDS — 1. Pacific; 2. Pepperdine; 3. San Jose State; 4. California Baptist; 5. Santa Clara; 6. Air Force; 7. LMU.
WHAT'S AT STAKE — In all likelihood, the West Coast Conference will be a one bid league to the NCAA Tournament, and only the winner of the conference tournament will make it to the big dance this year.
2024 WCC PRESEASON POLL — The WCC preseason poll, as decided by the league's coaches, went as follows: Pacific, San Jose State, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, California Baptist, Santa Clara, Air Force.
WCC HISTORY — Pepperdine won a share of the first regular season WCC Title in 2023, while San Jose State won the inaugural WCC Tournament last year.
SCHEDULE — With a win on Friday, Pepperdine will move into the semifinals of the conference tournament and play on Saturday at 11 a.m. against either #13 San Jose State or Air Force. If the Waves manage to make it to the championship game, they will play on Sunday at 1 p.m. Any loss in the tournament will end the Waves stay in Stockton, and it will likely be the end of the season for Pepperdine.
PCH CUP — An annual all-sport competition between two local rivals that are separated by just 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, the PCH Cup is in its 16th season of existence. Pepperdine has won 12 of the 15 years that this competition has been held.
ONLINE — All WCC Tournament games will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). The games will also have live stats, and links to the live stats and streams for all Pepperdine games can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com. Links for all other WCC Tournament games can be found here.
SOCIAL MEDIA — 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.
POTENTIAL MATCHUPS
#5 PACIFIC — Pepperdine is 58-38-1 all-time against Pacific, while the Tigers have won seven out of the last eight matchups between the teams. Pacific defeated Pepperdine 14-8 last Saturday to claim the top seed in the conference tournament this weekend. This season, Pacific is 17-1 and has collected 14 wins over ranked teams, including four wins over top-10 teams. Their only loss came in a neutral site game against Fordham, who is currently ranked third in the country.
#13 SAN JOSE STATE — The Waves are 23-8 all-time in games against the Spartans, which includes a 13-10 win over San Jose State on November 9 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. Pepperdine is also 6-4 all-time against San Jose State in neutral site games. This season, the Spartans are 15-6 and have collected nine wins over ranked opponents. San Jose State enters the conference tournament as the #3 seed.
#16 CALIFORNIA BAPTIST — Pepperdine is 13-1 all-time against California Baptist and has already defeated the Lancers twice this year. Additionally, the Waves are a perfect 7-0 in neutral site contests against the Lancers. This season, California Baptist is 20-12 and has earned four ranked victories, including a 12-11 win over #5 UC Irvine on October 9. The Lancers enter the conference tournament as the #4 seed.
#17 SANTA CLARA — The Waves are 13-2 all-time against the Broncos and have won the last four contests between the two teams. Pepperdine is 5-1 against Santa Clara all-time in neutral site games. The Waves defeated the Broncos 11-10 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on November 1. The Broncos are 13-10 this year, and they have three wins over ranked teams during the 2024 campaign. Santa Clara enters the tournament as the #5 seed.
AIR FORCE — Pepperdine is 47-4 all-time against Air Force and the Waves have won the last 18 contests against the Falcons. Pepperdine holds a 16-1 record against Air Force in neutral site games and the Waves also beat the Falcons 24-13 earlier this year. This season, Air Force is 13-19 and the Falcons enter the tournament as the #6 seed.
MOSES — Merrill Moses, a three-time Olympian, former All-American and national champion water polo player for the Waves, was elevated to head coach in March 2024. This season will be his first year as the head coach and his 13th on staff. Over the past 12 years, the Waves are 179-138 (.565) and have won four conference titles, including a most recent regular season crown last season.
HUNGARY FOR SUCCESS — The Waves have three standout players all hailing from Budapest, Hungary in juniors Adam Csapo and Sandor Gal as well as freshman Erik Ionescu.
Csapo is no stranger to success having already been a two-time All-American honorable mention and two-time All-Conference second team award winner. He was named to the All-WCC Preseason Team for the second straight year and has already tallied 61 goals and a team-leading 45 assists this year - including a game-high five goals against #3 USC.
In his two years as a Wave, Gal has never missed a game and has been a staple in the Pepperdine lineup. He scored a total of 58 goals and dished out 72 assists in his first two seasons. This season, Gal has tallied 35 goals and 32 assists on a .434 shooting percentage. He had four goals and three assists in the 15-13 win over #13 UCSB on September 19.
Making an immediate impact for the Waves in his debut season, Ionescu has been named the WCC Newcomer of the Week three times, once for his performances at the Triton Invitational, again after he helped the Waves win five games in three days and another time for his performances against #11 Princeton and Air Force in the conference opener. He's dished out 34 assists and found the back of the net 46 times so far this season.
100 CLUB — Christian Hosea and Adam Csapo have both tallied over 100 career goals having found the back of the net 181 and 174 times respectively. Hosea is tied for 14th on the all-time scoring list for the Waves, while Csapo is currently tied for 19th on the list.
AWARDS — Four Waves earned West Coast Conference postseason honors this season. Not only did Erik Ionescu garner the Freshman of the Year award, but he also made the honorable mention squad. Christian Hosea made the All-WCC first team, Adam Csapo received a second team nod and Sandor Gal made the honorable mention team.
Pepperdine also won seven WCC weekly awards this year. Most recently, Max Smirnov swept the conference's weekly honors winning both the WCC Player of the Week and the WCC Newcomer of the Week awards on November 12. Erik Ionescu won three WCC Newcomer of the Week awards - October 22, September 24 and September 10. Christian Hosea garnered the WCC Player of the Week award on October 1 and Jon Carcarey was named the WCC Player of the Week on September 10.
Smirnov recorded an impressive 16 saves while holding San Jose State to just 10 goals on a .294 shooting percentage. He also posted an incredible .615 save percentage and tallied two steals against the Spartans.
Ionescu tallied nine goals, two assists, three steals and one field block in his first weekend of collegiate water polo. He then posted five goals, seven assists, 12 points, four steals and two drawn exclusions before earning his second weekly award of the year. Then for his third award of the year, Ionescu had eight goals, two assists, 10 points, two steals, one earned exclusion, one field block and a sprint win, all while posting an impressive .800 shooting percentage.
Hosea scored 12 goals including a career-high seven goals in the 15-12 win over #9 Long Beach State. He also drew six exclusions and had a steal in his week of work for the Waves, all while posting an impressive .750 shooting percentage.
Carcarey totaled 12 goals, two drawn exclusions, two field blocks, one steal and the game-winning golden goal against California at the Triton Invitational.
ROSTER NUMBERS — The Waves' 28-man roster breakdown is two fifth years, four seniors, five juniors, two redshirt sophomores, three sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and eight freshmen. Pepperdine returns 19 players from last year's roster, including 2023 All-American honorable mention Adam Csapo. The Waves also add 9 newcomers, including a freshman goalie from Israel in Max Smirnov.
LAST SEASON — Pepperdine went 25-6 in the fall of 2023, won a share of the regular season WCC Championship, and finished ranked tied for seventh in the country in the final CWPA poll of the year. The Waves picked up wins against five top-10 teams last season including #4 Princeton on September 24. Pepperdine also swept the WCC Postseason top honors as Antonio Knez won the Player of the Year, Ryan Brosnan garnered the Newcomer of the Year and Terry Schroeder won the Coach of the Year award. Three Waves earned All-American honors, Brosnan and Knez garnered a spot on the third team, while Adam Csapo picked up an honorable mention nod. Brosnan and Knez also made the All-WCC first team while Csapo and Nico Tierney collected All-WCC second team honors.
WATER POLO HISTORY — Pepperdine won the NCAA title in 1997, which was the last time a school other than California, Stanford, UCLA or USC won the championship. The Waves' exceptional water polo history also includes 13 conference titles, a top-10 ranking in 47 of the last 48 years and a top-five finish 21 times. Pepperdine has had 63 players earn All-American honors a total of 112 times. Three Waves — Mike Grier (1984), Geoffrey Clark (1991) and Alan Herrmann (1997) — were named the national player of the year. Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool hosted the 1984 Olympic water polo competition and the 2000 NCAA Championships.
GROUP OPPORTUNITIES — Interested in bringing your group out to a Pepperdine Athletics event? Unique experiences include anthem buddies, national anthem performances, fan tunnels, halftime performances and more. Group tickets (15+ tickets) and experiences are available, beginning at $5 per person for women's volleyball, men's water polo and women's soccer. Those interested in purchasing group tickets can fill out this form or reach out to the ticket office via e-mail wavestix@pepperdine.edu or phone (866) WAVE-TIX.
JR. WAVES — Register your kid(s) to join Pepperdine's official kids club, "Jr. Waves" for the 2024-2025 academic year. Jr. Waves receive an exclusive t-shirt, membership card and a lanyard that grants free general admission to all Pepperdine ticketed sporting events. Memberships start at $100 per kid.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 20 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 26 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, four times (most recently in 2022-23). Located in scenic Malibu, California, the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #80 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
