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Men's Water Polo Finish 9th In MPSF Championships

Nov. 21, 2015

Los Angeles, Calif. --- Freshman Zachary Scudder scored four goals as the San José State defeated Pepperdine, 17-14, to capture ninth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Saturday, November 21.

The score was tight through most of the first half, freshman Zachary Scudder scored the first goal 23 seconds into the match to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead over the Waves. Pepperdine's Christopher Dilworth tied the score at 1-1 with a shot at 5:44 before San José State's Alek Dendall and Scudder each scored to give the Spartans a 3-1 lead.

The Waves countered with goals from Mark Urban and Dilworth to tie the Spartans, 3-3, with a 1:48 left in the opening period. Junior Vladimir Kazanskiy scored San José State's go ahead goal 37 seconds later with Pepperdine's Dilworth evening the score at 4-4 to conclude the period.

Urban added his second goal in the first minute of the second period to give the Waves their first lead of the match. Artak Arzumanyan extended Pepperdine's lead on a shot with 4:01 left in the first half. With the Spartans trailing 6-4 at the midpoint through the second, San José State fought back with five unanswered goals to take a 9-6 lead into halftime.

Kicking off the scoring run was junior Kameron Schlegel, scoring with 3:08 left in the second. In the closing minutes of the period, freshman Justin Contreras scored back-to-back goals to tie the match and then give the Spartans a 7-6 lead. Freshman Cade Baldridge scored an exclusion goal with 21 second remaining and junior Vladimir Kazanskiy scored on a penalty shot just before time expired.

In the third period the Spartans took a 12-7 lead, their biggest lead of the match. Scoring for San José State in the third were sophomore Igor Miljan, Scudder and Baldridge. Pepperdine's only goal in the period was on a shot by Urban.

San José State's five goals in the final period were scored Tyler Jamieson, Contreras, Baldridge, Scudder and Miljan. Scoring for Pepperdine in the fourth was Dilworth with four goals Marco Asic with three.

Collecting hat tricks for the Spartans, Baldridge and Contreras scored three goals each. Miljan and Kazanskiy each finished with a pair of goals for San José State. In the cage for San José State, goalkeeper Matej Matijevic made six saves in three periods of action. Freshman Cole Williams played the fourth period for the Spartans.

San José State was picked to finish tenth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in their inaugural season after a 34 year hiatus.

by Brian S. Stanley, SJSU athletics media relations student assistant