Pepperdine Upsets UCLA to Advance to Semifinals

Sixth-seeded Pepperdine upset No. 3 UCLA and top-ranked USC held off Long Beach State Friday in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Federation water polo tournament at Newport Harbor High.

Pepperdine defeated UCLA, 7-6, when Peter Joseph skipped a shot off the head of teammate Todd King--who got credit for the winning goal--into the corner of the net with 3:54 remaining.

USC beat No. 8 Long Beach State, 6-5, behind two first half goals by James Castle and two in the second half by Peter Janov.

Pepperdine will meet No. 4 UC Irvine, a 10-7 winner Friday over Pacific, today in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. USC plays No. 3 Stanford, a 10-5 winner Friday over Cal, in the other semifinal at 1.

Against UCLA, Pepperdine jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a goal by Joseph and a two-pointer by Sean Hylton.

The Bruins battled back to tie the score at halftime, 4-4, but managed only three more goals as Wave goalie Merrill Moses made four spectacular saves in the second half.

USC led Long Beach, 4-3, at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Panov scored twice in less than a minute before Jeff Colyer’s goal pulled Long Beach back to within one. The Trojans hung on for the final 4:48.

UC Irvine’s Ryan Bailey scored 37 seconds into the game against Pacific, then broke a 4-4 halftime tie with five consecutive goals.

Stanford’s Brian Heifferon scored three goals in the Cardinal’s victory over Cal.