Sept. 16, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - With 14 of the top-15 teams in the country aiming to legitimize themselves, the UC Davis men's water polo team earned a split of two games on the first day of the Northern California Tournament at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday. The Aggies defeated No. 8 Pepperdine in a thrilling first game, 10-9, before dropping a tough decision to No. 3 UCLA, 4-14, in the second game under the lights.
The Aggies (4-3) play WWPA foe Loyola Marymount University in the first game tomorrow at 9:50 am. Depending on the outcome, the Aggies will either play at 1:50 pm in the 7th place game or 3:10 pm in the 5th place game.
Against Pepperdine, Matt MacLachlan scored his only goal of the game with under seven minutes remaining and it would hold up to be the winning goal as the Aggies earned the 10-9 victory. UC Davis fell behind 2-4 after the first quarter, but shutout the Waves in the second to cap a 6-0 run and took a 7-4 halftime lead. The Aggies continued to control the game in the third quarter and outscored the Waves 4-2 to take a 9-6 heading into the final quarter. After MacLachlan's goal midway through the quarter, Pepperdine put up three unanswered goals to draw within one. Solid defensive efforts by the Aggies would stop the Waves' come back as UC Davis enjoyed its first victory over Pepperdine in almost five years.
Nick Arrigo led the Aggie scorers with his third hat trick of the season, while Josh McNeely record two goals and four other Aggies record one. Mike McGee came up with a game-high 10 saves in goal.
"It's great to accomplish new things," commented head coach Steve Doten on the team's first victory over Pepperdine in five years. "It was a wild game. We went down early and then we went up big after the half and wound up holding on to win at the end. We changed up our defense and that really helped us. We played with a lot of guts and stayed with our schemes."
The Aggies jumped back into the pool later that evening to play against a UCLA team that was fresh off a dominant 15-2 victory over No. 14 Princeton. The Bruins continued to play an overwhelming style that the Aggies were unable to stay up with in the lopsided 4-14 loss. The Aggies were unable to score in the first and fourth quarters and only managed one goal in the third. Arrigo again led the team with another hat trick while McGee made nine saves in goal.
"We didn't have enough gas in the tank to stay up with them," Doten said about the UCLA game. "We need to come in tomorrow and rebound against LMU, which is a big WWPA match up. It will be a big test."
Game One
Pepperdine 4 0 2 3 - 9
UC Davis 2 3 4 1 - 10
UC Davis Goals: Nick Arrigo 3, Josh McNeely 2, Trevor Long 1, Kevin Bacharach 1, Joseph Smith 1, David Welch 1, Matt MacLachlan 1.
Pepperdine Goals: Jason Langten 3, JP Macdonell 3, Matt Welde 1, Matt Lee 1, Jaime Wolf 1
UC Davis Goalie Saves: Mike McGee 10
Pepperdine Goalie Saves: Stachowski 6
Game Two
UCLA 4 2 4 4 - 14
UC Davis 0 3 1 0 - 4
UC Davis Goals: Nick Arrigo 3, Grant Muenter 1
UCLA Goals: Kuga 3, Jacobs 3, Krikorian 2, Powell 2, Zider 1, Santos 1, Swanson 1, Smith 1
UC Davis Goalie Saves: Mike McGee 9
UCLA Goalie Saves: Didinger 6
