By Jonathon Schaffer — Reporter
The San Jose State men’s water polo team (2-6, 1-4 GCC) lost against the Pepperdine Waves (11-3, 4-1 GCC) by a score of 16-6 on Sunday, March 7.
This was the final game of a three-game weekend series where the Waves won 2-1.
“We kinda came out slow,” said senior center Finn Pardon. “Fourth game in three days I think we were just a bit tired… but overall was a pretty fun series.”
The Waves jumped to a quick 3-0 lead with goals coming from junior attacker Curtis Jarvis and sophomore center Austin Smit.
The Spartans then responded with a goal from junior attacker Utku Karhan, but Pepperdine came right back with a goal from freshman utility Christian Hosea.
The Waves kept the pace of play with another added goal from junior attacker Sean Ferrari to make the score 5-1.
San Jose State responded once again on the power play with a goal from utility freshman Gal Haimovich making the score 6-2 at the end of the first frame.
The second period started more slowly with turnovers being committed by each team, but junior driver Ben Hauschild split Pepperdine’s lead by half with the score at 6-3.
However, Pepperdine came away with three unanswered goals from junior attacker Nicholas Fichmann and Ferrari to add to their lead of 9-3.
San Jose State head coach Bruce Watson then called a timeout to slow down Pepperdine’s momentum but the Waves were able to add one more goal from Fichmann.
The second period closed with a score of 10-3 Pepperdine.
The third period did not start with any goals until freshman center Nico Tierney and junior attacker Matt Outcalt of Pepperdine raised the score up to 13-3
The Spartans were able to hold the score but could not find the net at all during the third period.
Junior center Max Sprute began the fourth period with a goal for the Waves adding to their grand lead.
SJSU finally scored again on a power play from Mark Kis with 3:21 left in the fourth. Utku Karhan also added a goal for the Spartans late in the fourth quarter.
Outcalt found the back of the net to extend the Waves’ lead to 11.
Freshman driver Jacob Hatch belted one more goal for SJSU making the final score of the game Pepperdine 16 San Jose State 6
The Spartans were only able to score six goals despite leading the game with 35 shots against Pepperdine’s 27 shots.
Tierney of the Waves led the game with five points total having two goals and adding three assists.
Waves’ sophomore goalie Kent Amden had a great day making 16 saves on 22 shots and was granted the win.
Karhan, Haimovich and Hauschild all notched two points each for the Spartans
Backstop Yahav Fire let in 15 goals on 21 shots and was given the loss.
The Spartans were not able to win the series against Pepperdine but were just happy to get at least one win against the number five ranked team in the country on the day prior on March 5
“It was a learning process,” said coach Watson. “We played good enough Saturday morning to win… today’s game showed us what we need to work on.”
SJSU’s next game will be at home once again against the University of Santa Clara Broncos on Saturday, March 13 at 10 a.m.
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