STOCKTON, Calif. – In the inaugural Golden Coast Conference Men's Water Polo Championship game, Pacific fell 6-5 to the Pepperdine as Pacific couldn't quite manage to find the tying goal after two late controversial calls.
Pepperdine's Zach Rhodes made 18 saves in the game and added four steals to lead the Waves to victory and was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Alen Osmanovic of the Tigers made 12 saves of his own, including a late penalty shot save, but took the loss.
In the final 30 seconds, down a goal, Ikko Saito ripped a shot go off the far post which caromed onto the goal line, but it was ruled outside the cage. Pacific forced a turnover and sprung Tim Reeves into the two meter against one defender, but as Reeves tried to draw an exclusion or push the ball past the keeper, he was whistled for a ball under in the final seconds, prompting the Waves championship celebration.
The No. 5 ranked Tigers wrap the season at 19-7 overall, while Pepperdine, ranked No. 8 and seeded fourth in the GCC tournament improves to 15-12 overall.
Pepperdine scored the game's first goal on a lobbed shot into the top left corner of the cage. Mark Urban scored the goal.
The Waves struck again with a hard shot into the left corner, just barely grazing past the post and into the net to make it 2-0 with 2:41 left in the quarter.
Shots after one quarter were 10-6 Pacific but Pepperdine maintained their 2-0 lead.
Kale Ai had a good chance in the early second quarter as he sprinted in alone before the defense reacted. Ai's lead pass to Luis Araya went off the freshman's fingertips though, ending the attack.
The first powerplay of the second quarter went to Pacific, with an exclusion drawn by Aleksandar Petrovic, who would be named a member of the All-Tournament team.
The Tigers were 0-for-2 in the first on the advantage but scored on this attack thanks to a nifty lob pass from Ikko Saito, who was also named to the All-Tournament team. Ai had the goal as he leapt into the air to redirect Saito's pass past the goalie at 5:48.
Pepperdine answered on their next possession, scoring to stretch their lead back to two goals at 3-1.
Engin Ege Colak drew an exclusion to help the Tigers fight back into it a minute later. The initial shot by Petrovic was fought off by Rhodes but the goalie was forced to bring the ball underwater to fight off Pacific's offense and an five-meter was called.
Saito took the five-meter and scored with ease, going low to the left of the cage for the goal.
Once again, the Waves answered immediately. Marko Asic scored the goal at 2:46, just 15 seconds after Pacific's goal, to make it 4-2.
Araya raised high into the air over the defense to fire away with 1:48 left. His shot sailed under the goalie's arm and into the right corner of the net for the score, cutting it to a one-goal game.
Pacific had 16 shots in the half, 14 of which went on net. Pepperdine had 11 shots, with Osmanovic making three saves.
The Waves' Asic cut across with the ball into the middle early in the third quarter and let loose with a lob shot to extend Pepperdine's lead to 5-3.
Colak scored for Pacific with just a few seconds left on the clock in the third during a powerplay for Pacific's second goal on the man advantage of the day. Colak picked a pass high out of the air from Devon Thumwood and fired immediately to make it 5-4 going into the final quarter.
Mark Urban of the Waves scored with just under five left in the game to make it a two-goal game once again.
Ai scored on a Saito pass for the second time in the game with 3:16 left. The Tigers were back on the powerplay when Ai raised up for a one-timer off a pass from Saito into the middle just in front of goal. The goal made it 6-5 Pepperdine.
Osmanovic made a huge save on a five-meter penalty with two minutes to go to keep the game in reach. Pacific's goalie stonewalled Asic to keep the score where it was. Pepperdine retained the ball and managed to kill another minute before the Tigers got the ball back with a chance to tie.
It was Ai making a big play again as he stole the ball while the Waves tried to kill the clock. Ai was fouled as he broke away free, earning an exclusion with 33 seconds to go in the game. Saito's shot looked to go in but hit the post and dribbled across the goalmouth, ruled out.
The Tigers got one more chance when Pepperdine threw the ball out of bounds under pressure. Reeves got the ball at the mouth of goal and got into a tussle with Rhodes who leapt onto him. Reeves was called for a ball under to end the game.
In addition to Petrovic and Saito, the All-Tournament team included Nolan McConnell of Long Beach State, Reed Cotterill of UC Santa Barbara, and Urban, Rhodes, and Christian Bridley of Pepperdine.
