Pepperdine Chases Title With Well-Stacked Deck
Before Pepperdine’s water polo team could rise to the nation’s No. 1 ranking, it had to be temporarily torn down.
The Waves basically wrote off last season by having their two best players,Alan Herrmann and Jack Kocur,use redshirt years, giving an inexperienced team time to mature without its senior leaders.
It was a difficult decision, but one that has paid off handsomely for the Waves, who today open play in the nine-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship tournament at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.
With Herrmann and Kocur joining a strong returning group and a talented recruiting class, Pepperdine (22-1) has dominated the cream of college water polo and is favored to win its first NCAA championship.
Looking back, Herrmann can see the enormous benefit of the “stacking” strategy, even if it was painful to watch Pepperdine struggle to a 10-18 record last season.
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my water polo career,” he said. “You train all year with the guys, create a team, and then you come to the games and have to watch from the bench. It just kills you sometimes, but it was for the better and I’m glad I did it.”
For Kocur, a former Royal High standout, sitting out a season was worth it because it allowed him to play with this year’s group.
“The difference is team chemistry,” Kocur said. “We have a lot of unity that we’ve never had before.”
Top-seeded Pepperdine takes an eight-game winning streak into its first-round game in the tournament at 2:30 p.m. against the winner of a morning game between Long Beach State and Pacific.
The winner of the championship game Sunday at 2:30 p.m. automatically earns a spot in the four-team NCAA tournament Dec. 5 and 7 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., joining Eastern champion Queens College of New York and UC Davis, champion of the Western Water Polo Assn.
An at-large NCAA berth will likely go to a second team from the powerful MPSF, and Pepperdine Coach Terry Schroeder is confident the Waves have it locked up regardless of how they finish in the MPSF tournament.
“I don’t see how anybody else could get it,” he said.
Because of that, Schroeder expects his team to be focused and relaxed, especially after a week of spirited workouts in Malibu.
“I think [the at-large berth] takes the pressure off us,” Schroeder said. “We can go out and play relaxed, knowing we’re in the national championships the following weekend. . . . But I think all our guys are fired up to win this thing.”
Only No. 3-ranked Stanford,which handed the Waves a 4-2 loss Oct. 19,has been able to overcome Pepperdine’s lethal combination of firepower and defensive intensity.
The big three of Herrmann, Kocur and junior college transfer Jeremy Pope have combined for 124 goals and 133 points, helping the Waves to a 3-0 record against No. 2-ranked California, a 3-1 record against Stanford and a 2-0 mark against No. 4-ranked USC. Those teams were ranked ahead of Pepperdine in a preseason coaches’ poll.
But it is his team’s defense that most impresses Schroeder. The Waves have limited 18 opponents to six points or less and junior goalie Merrill Moses, whom Schroeder calls the best in the nation, has allowed 97 points and made 168 saves in 20 games.
“What everybody on this team has learned is that defense wins championships,” Schroeder said.
It didn’t take long for Pope to notice that Pepperdine had the look of a champion. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior two-meter man has been the team’s brightest newcomer after leading Golden West College in Huntington Beach to back-to-back state titles.
“After the first game, that’s when I knew we had the possibility to go all the way,” said Pope, who leads Pepperdine with 48 points. “We just clicked. It was the same kind of look we had at Golden West.”
Schroeder also credits the leadership provided by Kocur and Herrmann for taking the Waves to a new level. Pepperdine won its first MPSF title since joining the league in 1992 and appears headed for its first NCAA tournament berth since 1994. Its best showing was a third-place finish in 1991.
“Kocur and Herrmann have both become more complete players,” Schroeder said. “[Kocur] has been a verbal leader in the water, and [Herrmann] has been a leader out of the water. The combination has been really good.”
Kocur, a 6-1, 180-pound driver, trained part of last summer with the U.S. team. He ranks third on Pepperdine in scoring with 39 points, including a team-leading six two-point goals.
“Jack grew up a lot as a person over the summer,” Schroeder said. “He saw a different level of water polo and brought that back to our team in the form of intensity in workouts and games.”
Herrmann, a 6-4, 250-pound two-meter man, also had a chance to work out with the national team, but says his focus was always on returning for his final college season.
“[Sitting out] gave me a year to work on things,” said Herrmann, a second-team All-American as a sophomore and junior. “I lifted a little harder so I could lay off this season and I worked on my shooting.”
With 213 career goals, including 46 this season, Herrmann ranks among Pepperdine’s all-time leading scorers. Although Herrmann’s scoring has fallen off some, he considers this his best season.
“It’s definitely been a role change,” said the Orange County native. “For three years, I was always the leading scorer. I don’t want to say it was a one-dimensional team, but it was a dominant two-meter man team.
“Now, there is pressure to make good passes and create plays, along with taking shots.”
Schroeder, 39, in his 12th season as Pepperdine’s coach, also has made adjustments. A four-time Olympian, he read books by John Wooden, Pat Riley and Bill Parcells last summer to become a more well-rounded coach.
“Up through 1996, I was still thinking of myself first as a player and second as a coach,” said Schroeder, whose last Olympics were in 1992. “In the last few years, especially this year, I’m more content with thinking of myself as a coach. It’s more rewarding.”
Being part of a national champion would rank near the top of achievements for arguably the best water polo player the United States has produced.
“As a player at Pepperdine and now as a coach, that’s one thing that has eluded me,” Schroeder said. “It would be a great honor.”
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Pool Party
TODAY
At Long Beach State
* 8 a.m.--No. 8 seeded Long Beach State (10-16) vs. No. 9 Pacific (7-11)
At Belmont Plaza Pool, Long Beach
* 9 a.m.--No. 2 California (20-5) vs. No. 7 UC Santa Barbara (9-12)
* 10:30 a.m.--No. 3 Stanford (17-6) vs. No. 6 UC Irvine (10-13)
* 1 p.m.--No. 4 USC (17-6) vs. No. 5 UCLA (13-10)
* 2:30 p.m.--No. 1 Pepperdine (22-1) vs. Long Beach/Pacific winner
SATURDAY, at Belmont Plaza Pool
* Semifinals at 1 and 2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, at Belmont Plaza Pool
* 2:30 p.m.--Championship game