Oct. 29, 2006

Stockton, Calif. - The No. 6 ranked Pacific men's water polo team fell to No. 10 Pepperdine in overtime by the score of 9-8 in front of 228 fans at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on Sunday, Oct. 29th.

With the loss, the Tigers fall to 14-11, 2-3 in MPSF play, while the Waves improve to 11-14, 1-3 in MPSF play.

In the first period of play, each team put two goals on the scoreboard, as junior Dragan Bakic (Split, Croatia) and senior Chris Garcia (Burbank, Calif.) each found the back of the cage for the Tigers. Pepperdine stormed back in the second period, outscoring the Tigers 5-2 to take a 7-4 lead into the halftime break, as five different Waves connected on goals in the period. The Pacific goals came on a power play goal by junior Duje Kaurloto (Split, Croatia), and C. Garcia's second goal of the game.

The start of the second half saw momentum shift the way of the Tigers, as Pacific scored the only goal of the third period on a Bakic goal, and the first goal of the fourth period on a connection by senior co-captain Clint McLaughlin (El Cajon, Calif.) to trail one at 7-6. Pepperdine answered right back on a goal from JP Macdonell to retake a two goal advantage before junior Andy Skora (San Clemente, Calif.) drew a five-meter penalty on Macdonell and senior co-captain Matt Turnbull (Act, Australia) converted on the try to pull the Tigers to within one at 8-7. Turnbull didn't stop there, adding the game tieing goal three minutes later to force overtime at an 8-8 tie.

In the first overtime session, Doug Mann connected on his third goal of the day just :31 seconds into the period to make the score 9-8. Pacific's best chance came at the end of the second overtime as McLaughlin had a shot go off the post with a minute remaining that would have tied the score.

Junior goalie Brian Domecus (Vallejo, Calif.) had a career high 19 blocks for the Tigers, and held the Waves to just one goal in the second half. Domecus faced a total of 38 Pepperdine shots on the day.

The Tigers are next in action on Saturday, Nov. 4th as they travel to UC Davis for a non-conference clash. Opening sprint is scheduled for 12 noon

Pacific: 2-2-1-3-0-0 = 8
Pepperdine: 2-5-0-1-1-0 = 9

Goals
Pacific: Bakic 2 (58, 59), Chris Garcia 2 (7, 8), Turnbull 2 (35, 36), Kaurloto (59), McLaughlin (25)
Pepperdine: Mann 3, Macdonell 2, Auer, Corjon, Langten, Snyder

Blocks: Domecus (PAC) 19, Stachowski (PEPP) 10

Sprints: Kaurloto (PAC) 3, Macdonell (PEPP) 2, Matt Mitchell (PAC)