Stockton, Calif. - The No. 7 Pacific posted an 11-7 win over No. 9 Pepperdine on Senior Day. Devon Thumwood scored three goals, while Kale Ai, Krisztian Laczkovics and Ben Stevenson each posted two goals.
Brady Moore made 16 saves, but Pepperdine converted a penalty shot with five seconds left in the game to send the Tigers to the MPSF Tournament first round game. Despite the win, the Tigers will be the eight seed in the MPSF Tournament, and play in the first round against nine seed UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 8:30 a.m. The winner gets No. 1 UCLA at 3:00 p.m. Friday.
The Tigers needed a five-goal victory to win the tie-breaker with UC Irvine and Pepperdine, but an exclusion and interference call handed the Waves a five-meter penalty shot with five seconds left. Wesley Sherburne buried the penalty shot, his fourth goal of the game.
Zack Rhodes posted 12 saves in goal for the Waves.
Sean Grady opened the game with a shot off the bar and on the other end, the Waves' Luke Hewko finished for a 1-0 lead. Thumwood responded with a 6-on-5 goal to tie the game at 6:12, going near side from five meters away. Thumwood converted a five-meter penalty shot to put Pacific on top, 2-1.
Tim Reeves one-timed a feed into the two-meter from Casey Fleming as Pacific led 3-1. On the 6-on-5, Pepperdine answered with Sherburne sneaking one off the hands of the keeper and just inside the post. Sherburne brought the Waves back to even at 3-3 with a goal at the 1:19 mark, and after a steal by Hewko, Moore made the same on a breakaway to close the quarter.
Brock Liebhardt finished amid traffic in the two meter for a 4-3 Pepperdine lead early in the second. On a three—on-two rush, Kale Ai finished in transition with a cross-cage skip shot to tie the game at 4-4.
Justin Cowan converted just after a 6-on-5 expired as Pepperdine took a 5-4 edge. But Ai answered with another skip-shot goal a minute later. Simon Vogel tallied from the two-meter into the near side for a 6-5 Pacific lead 1:06 before halftime. Ben Stevenson buried a 6-on-5 goal off the assist from Thumwood with nine seconds to go in the half as Pacific led 7-5 at the break.
Krisztian Laczkovics nutmegged the keeper off the sprint for a 8-5 lead. Sherburne polished off a five-meter penalty at the 3:07 to narrow the gap to 8-6.
The score remained unchanged for nearly eight full minutes before Laczkovics tallied again. On the 6-on-5, Thumwood completed the hat-trick with a quick shot early in the possession.
Stevenson scored on a long lob from outside the five meter to the far upper left corner for the five-goal lead the Tigers needed with 0:58 left to go. The Tigers killed a possession and ran the clock down, but Pepperdine had one last shot. Fouling intentionally, Thumwood was whistled, and tried to clear the ball away but couldn't do so before the exclusion call, leading to a five-meter penalty.
Sherburne stepped up to finish and the Tigers took home a disappointing victory.
Pacific wraps the regular season at 14-11, and 2-6 in MPSF action. Pepperdine falls to 10-13 overall and 2-6 in MPSF play.
