The UCLA men’s water polo team won 5-4 in overtime against the Pepperdine Waves tonight at Speiker Pool in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
It was a near upset against the sixth seeded Waves, who kept the game close throughout, sending it into the last seconds of overtime.
Redshirt senior Cullen Hennessey scored the game winning goal with 10 seconds left to play.
It was a low-scoring game, with few of the Bruins’ shots making it past the goalposts. However, their defense was also on-spot, with several saves from redshirt junior Matt Rapacz, with only four shots from the Waves making it past him.
The game was close throughout, but the Bruins appeared lost on offense. They missed a vital penalty opportunity in the third quarter, when the Waves’ goalie knocked down a shot from freshman Paul Reynolds.
Pepperdine did not appear to take their sixth seed to heart, constantly telling one another that this was the game of their season, and, right before overtime: “Come on”“we got this!”
Coach Adam White said the game was characterized by missed opportunities. He said the low score was not due to a slow start, as they were defensively on the whole game, but rather the strength of the Pepperdine defense.
Southern California and Pacific played the first game of the tournament this morning, which ended in a win by the Trojans. The game was close through the first half, but throughout the second USC managed to leap ahead, ending the game with a score of 11-7
California and UC Irvine ended with a 15-9 California win, sending them to play UCLA in the next round. Stanford and Santa Barbara have yet to play. The winner of that game will face USC tomorrow.
The Bruins lost their last home game against Cal, which was marked by poor defense, something they have worked on steadily since.
Although UCLA goes into the tournament with a three seed behind first USC and second Cal, they were voted into the number two ranking in the country behind only the Trojans. The Golden Bears were ranked third in the poll.
Tomorrow marks the semi-final rounds, and on Sunday, the final games will be played to determine 1st-8th place. The Bruins will play Cal at 3:00 pm tomorrow to decide who goes to the final.