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Water Polo To Host UC Irvine, Travel To Santa Clara
What's Happening
The No. 7 Pacific men's water polo team welcomes No. 8 UC Irvine to Kjeldsen Pool for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday, October 29, at 12 p.m. The Tigers will hit the road Sunday, October 30, for a nonconference match at No. 15 Santa Clara, also at 12 p.m.
Last Week In Brief
The Orange and Black dropped an MPSF match to then-No. 3 Stanford 8-6 Friday, October 21. Both junior Goran Tomasevic and sophomore Balazs Erdelyi scored twice, with Erdelyi extending his scoring streak to 14 consecutive matches. Sophomore Alex Malkis recorded his 350th career save during the match and now has 362 career blocks.
A Quick Look Ahead
The Tigers will play their next three matches away from home as they will face No. 1 UCLA, No. 5 UC Santa Barbara, and No. 4 California in a span of eight days beginning November 4.
News And Notes
Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Malkis registered his 350th career save in the first quarter against Stanford on Friday, October 21. He now has 362 career blocks, putting him seventh on the all-time list and 40 saves shy of sixth.
Sophomore Balazs Erdelyi scored twice against the Cardinal, giving him his team-leading 11th multi-goal match of the season. He also extended his scoring streak to 14 consecutive matches.
Upcoming Milestones
Senior Tyler Reardon will play his 100th career match as a Tiger against UC Irvine. He also needs just two steals to record 100 career thefts.
Senior Tom Koning has played in 98 career matches at Pacific. The Tigers' tilt against Santa Clara Sunday will mark his 100th career match. He is 13 goals shy of 150 career scores.
MPSF Stat Rankings
Erdelyi is averaging 2.47 goals per game, ranking third in the MPSF. His 37 goals is fourth-most in the league.
Koning owns a 2.13 goals-per-game average, good for fifth.
Tomasevic is scoring an average of 1.88 goals per game, ranking eighth in the conference.
Malkis is third in saves-per-game average with 10.37 blobkc per game. His 140 saves on the year ranks second in the league.
Scouting UC Irvine
The Anteaters enter Saturday's match at 12-8 on the year, including an 0-3 mark in MPSF matches. UC Irvine has played a tough conference slate, having faced USC, UCLA, and Pepperdine to start league play. UCI has not played since October 14.
Sophomore Mitch Wise leads the Anteaters in goals per game with 2.80. He has notched a league-high 56 goals on the year.
Freshman Michael Bailey leads the MPSF in saves per game with 11.08, making 72 saves in 6.5 games. Junior Jimmy Friedrich has played 9.6 games and is allowing 8.11 goals per game.
Scouting Santa Clara
Santa Clara currently owns a 15-12 record but have won their last four matches. The Broncos have faced four different MPSF squads this season and are 0-7 in those matches.
The Tigers have squared off with Santa Clara twice already this season, once in their season opener and a second time at the NorCal Tournament. Pacific won both matches by a combined score of 27-11. Senior Tom Koning scored five goals in the first match and four in the second. Fellow classmate Lance Morrison also tallied four goals in the second match while Erdelyi recorded a hat trick.
