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University of the Pacific

Men's Water Polo Season Preview, Tigers Kick off Year at Bruno Classic

STOCKTON, Calif. - The Pacific men's water polo team dives into the 2018 season this weekend with a three-match slate at the Brown Bruno Classic and a nonconference friendly against Harvard University.

The Orange and Black travel east and will be faced with a good opportunity to start the year as they take on three teams nationally ranked in the top-25. The Tigers have four matches this weekend squaring off against No. 15 Brown University at 10:00 AM and No. 19 St. Francis Brooklyn at 4:45 PM on Saturday followed by two contests against MIT at 7:00 AM and No. 11 Harvard at 11:30 AM on Sunday. 

2017 YEAR IN REVIEW/2018 PREVIEW:
 Coming off a historic year with their first-ever Golden Coast Conference (GCC) title and their second-longest NCAA Tournament run in program history, the Tigers look to continue their tradition of success with the emergence of new talent and their core of returning players. 

Pacific brings back 13 returners and five starters to the pool this season, including two All-Americans in junior Ege Colak and junior Luke Pavillard. The two attackers led the Orange and Black in scoring with 72 and 81 goals respectively both earning All-GCC First Team and Tournament honors. 

The Tigers also welcome 11 true freshman to their roster as Head Coach James Graham looks to assemble a solid rotation approaching GCC play. 

"It's always great to start off a new season and this year is no exception," Graham said. "2018 is going to be an exciting year for us and we're looking forward to molding the crew that we have, Graham stated. "We lost a couple of key guys that helped us get to the championship level but the tradeoff is that we have some new guys that we think are ready to step up...Some of the players we're looking forward to seeing are Bogdan [Djerkovic] and Jonathan [Cooper] but we're looking forward to seeing what all the new guys can bring to the table."

Djerkovic is a 6-6 freshman who played on the Canadian Senior National team. Djerkovic made appearances in the FINA Junior Water Polo Championship and Pan American Championship this past summer. 

Cooper is an Irvine, Calif. native. The Southern California product earned Trinity Water Polo Defensive Player of the year his senior year along with leading Orange Lutheran to a 29-3 overall record en route to a CIF Division II championship. 

Last year, the Tigers broke the school record for goals in a year (396) and capped off their third season with 20+ wins under Graham with an overall record of 20-6 and a perfect 5-0 in conference. Pacific looks to build on it's success versus ranked competition going 18-6 last season against teams in the top-25.

MATCH NOTES:

BROWN UNIVERSITY:

  • The Bears finished the NWPC with an overall record of 21-12 last year, taking a third place finish with an 11-9 win over St. Francis.
  • Junior attacker Armen Deirmenjian is Brown's leading returner tallying 35 goals, 25 assists and a team-high 63 steals.
  • Sophomore Riad Hallal recorded 225 saves as a true freshman for the Bears last season.
  • Brown outscored their opponents 95-77 in the final two periods last year.

ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN:

  • The Terriers return nine starters to their roster. Four players recorded 20 or more goals on the year including senior utility Botond Kadar.
  • Attackers Botond Katar and William Lapkin were named to the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) All-First team along with NWPC Coach of the Year Bora Dimitrov
  • St. Francis went 13-14 overall last season, 5-10 in nonconference friendlies. 
  • The Terriers fell in the conference semifinals, 9-7, to Harvard University to end their season.

MIT:

        ● The Engineers fell to Pacific, 22-5, in their meeting last season
      ● Three underclassmen earned ACWPC All-American Honors: Clyde Huibregtse, Christian Schillinger, and Evan Kim. The three combined for 105 of MIT's 259 goals.                  
      ● The Engineers closed out the year on a five match losing streak, falling 11-10 to John Hopkins in the CPWPA D-III Championship game. 
      ● Former assistant Bret Lathrope will serve his first year as the Men's Water Polo Head Coach. 

HARVARD:

      ● The Crimson are coming off their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and NEWPC Conference Title. 
      ● Harvard wrapped up it's regular season last year with a record of 24-8, 8-3 in conference. 
      ● The Crimson return two All-Americans in sophomore Dennis Blyashov and junior Austin Sechrest. Blyashov led the way with a team high 94 goals and 30 assists. 
      ● The Tigers pulled out a 15-4 victory at the Bruno Classic the last time these two teams faced off. Engin Colak registered two goals in that match. 

Live stats for the Tigers' weekend matches will be available via FOSH.net and live streaming can be found here. For the latest on Men's Water Polo athletics, visit the Tigers via social media on Twitter and Instagram.  

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