UCLA men’s water polo defeats Pepperdine for Senior Day win
Graduate student attacker Chasen Travisano lines up for a shot. Travisano led No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo with five goals as the Bruins beat No. 9 Pepperdine on Senior Day. (Kyle Kotanchek/Daily Bruin)
Men's Water Polo
| No. 9 Pepperdine | 10 |
| No. 1 UCLA | 18 |
By Ricardo Garcia
Oct. 25, 2021 12:19 a.m.
After a high-scoring first half, the Bruins’ defense settled the strong waves.
On the blue and gold’s Senior Day, No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo (16-1, 1-0 MPSF) defeated No. 9 Pepperdine (13-9, 1-1 GCC) by a score of 18-10 in its final regular-season home game at Spieker Aquatics Center on Sunday.
Both teams combined for 18 total goals in the first half, with 10 coming from the Bruins. After giving up eight goals in the first 16 minutes of the game, UCLA limited the Waves to two goals in the second half.
Coach Adam Wright said Pepperdine is a physical opponent but said his team didn’t do much to help themselves defensively at the start of the contest.
“We were engaging with them,” Wright said. “I don’t even think we had a shot block in the first half. Two goals (allowed) in the second half, we were able to turn it around.”
The game marked the sixth time this season that UCLA scored at least 15 goals, and the first since the Bruins recorded 18 goals against San Jose State earlier this season.
UCLA shot 18-of-34 from the field, marking consecutive games in which the Bruins have exceeded a 50% shooting percentage. After going 6-of-12 on the power play against Pepperdine, UCLA has now gone 11-of-20 in six-on-five situations in its last two games after a 10-of-43 stretch since the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational.
Of the 18 goals scored, 15 were either scored or assisted by one of the five players on the team being celebrated on Senior Day. All the seniors and graduate students who played also scored at least once.
Graduate student attacker Chasen Travisano, who led all scorers with five goals on perfect shooting in his final regular-season home game, said the additional circumstances of playing his final home game as a Bruin didn’t influence the gravity of the contest.
“At the end of the day, every game means the same,” Travisano said. “We try to look at it that way.”
Senior attacker/utility Jake Cavano had a hat trick as the team’s second-leading scorer but echoed Travisano’s sentiments.
“I was just happy that I was able to put the shots down,” Cavano said. “(Pepperdine has) a good goalie in J.C. Marco, and I was glad I was able to get three passes over him.”
Travisano – who has been named to the MPSF All-Academic Team three times, earned a spot on the Pac-12 Spring Academic Roll and received an All-MPSF Honorable Mention – said he hoped his legacy during his career at UCLA would be remembered for how he and the senior class added to the team’s culture.
“You’re going to win some – you’re going to lose some,” Travisano said. “It’s about leaving a better culture than we had before.”
The Bruins enter a bye during the next week before their penultimate game of the regular season. Wright said the week off is an opportunity to get in some strong work before the team’s next game.
“It’s a nice period of time to kind of recharge, put in some good work,” Wright said. “You can grow a lot as a program.”
UCLA’s next game will take place Nov. 6 against No. 3 USC across town, the first of two straight conference road games to end the regular season.
