Los Angeles, Calif.----- As one of the last men's water polo teams to begin its season, #10-ranked San Jose State University lost a pair of road matches to #5-Pepperdine, 13-10, and #6-LMU, 15-6.
Both Pepperdine (5-2) and LMU (4-4) have been in action as early as January 23.
The Spartans (0-2, 0-1 Golden Coast Conference) outshot each of their opponents on opening day, but ran into solid opponent goalkeeping. San Jose State was a combined 7-of-28 on the power play in its two matches of its nine-match regular season through March 13.
In the season opener, the Spartans had early 1-0 and 2-1 leads on goals by Neil Arnett and Finn Pardon, but the Waves closed out the first quarter with a pair of scores and never trailed the rest of the way. Back-to-back scores by Finn Pardon and Niels Hofmeijer tied the match at 7-7 in the third quarter before Pepperdine pulled away with five unanswered goals.
Mason Smith, Noah Pendleton and Griffin O'Brien shared the goalkeeping duties for the Spartans in the morning match. Smith, who played the first half and the final 2:22 of the match, was credited with five saves in his major college debut. Pendleton did not have any saves playing the third quarter. O'Brien stopped a pair of shots in the fourth quarter before being replaced by Smith.
Pepperdine's Kent Emden was credited with 14 saves on 33 Spartan shots.
San Jose State had plenty of scoring opportunities in the afternoon non-conference match against LMU, but was turned away by Lions' goalkeeper Robert Halligan who had 1 saves.
Other than a 1-1 tie on a Hofemijer score, San Jose State trailed the rest of the way. Newcomer Gal Haimovich was the Spartans' top scorer with two. Pardon, Arnett and Jacob Hatch joined Hofmeijer with one goal.
Smith was credited with two saves playing the first three quarters for the Spartans. Pendleton was the goalkeeper in the fourth quarter and was not credited with a save.
LMU's Robert Halligan stopped 18 San Jose State shots.
The Spartans wrap up their first weekend of action with a second Golden Coast Conference match in two days on February 20 at Pepperdine. The opening sprint is set for 10:00 a.m.
| Match #1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
| #10-San José State (0-1, 0-1 GCC) |
2 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
| #6-Pepperdine (5-2, 1-0 GCC) |
3 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
13 |
| Scoring |
| San Jose State – Finn Pardon, 5; Niels Hofmeijer, 3; Mark Kis, Neil Arnett, 1, each. |
| Pepperdine – Nico Tierney, Curtis Jarvis, 3, each; Balazs Kosa, Jake Howerton, 2; Austin Smit, Kaden Kaneko, Travis Reynolds, 1, each. |
| Goalkeeper Saves |
| San Jose State – Mason Smith (18:22), 5; Noah Pendleton (8:00), 0; Griffin O'Brien (5:38), 2. |
| Pepperdine – Kent Emden, 14. |
| Ejections |
| San Jose State – 8. |
| Pepperdine – 17. |
| Match #2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
| #10-San Jose State (0-2) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
| #6-LMU (4-4) |
3 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
15 |
| Scoring |
| San Jose State – Gal Haimovich, 2; Finn Pardon, Niels Hofmeijer, Jacob Hatch, Neil Arnett, 1, each. |
| LMU – Joseph Shaw, Jonny Rimlinger, Joseph Cavazos, 3, each; Augie Renezeder, Luke Chandler, Jack Dunbar, Makoa Gutierrez, Alex Marlow, Daniel Roth, 1, each. |
| Goalkeeper Saves |
| San Jose State – Mason Smith (24:00), 2; Noah Pendleton (8:00), 0. |
| LMU – Robert Halligan, 18. |
| Ejections |
| San Jose State – 11. |
| LMU – 14. |
