Malibu, Calif. - The No. 6 Pacific men's water polo team was edged 11-10 in overtime by No. 8 Pepperdine in its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener Sunday, October 16, at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.

The Tigers now sit at 9-6 (0-1 MPSF) on the year while Pepperdine improves to 10-6 (2-1 MPSF) with the win.

The match opened with the two squads trading a pair of goals as senior Tom Koning and junior Balazs Szabo netted for the Tigers. Senior Daniel Lungu scored late in the period to give Pacific a 3-2 advantage after eight minutes.

Sophomore Balazs Erdelyi had two close calls early in the second quarter as consecutive shots hit the post and were saved, respectively. He managed to find junior Goran Tomasevic on a counter, however, as Tomasevic's goal put the Tigers up 4-2 midway through the quarter. Tomasevic would draw a penalty with one minute left in the half which Erdelyi converted into a goal that gave Pacific a 5-2 lead heading into intermission.

Pepperdine came out strong in the third quarter, scoring on a six-on-five play early in the period before notching a second goal to cut the Tigers' lead to 5-4. Koning had the answer for Pacific, finishing on a power play midway through the frame. The Waves would find the back of the cage a third time, again making it a one-goal game, but senior Tyler Reardon converted a shot with four seconds left to give the Tigers a 7-5 lead with one quarter left.

The Waves completed their comeback with consecutive goals to tie the match at 7-7. Koning again came up huge for Pacific, tallying his third score of the match to put the Tigers back on top at the 5:38 mark. It would be short-lived, however, as the hosts knotted the match at 8-8 on a shot to the bottom corner of the cage.

Erdelyi registered his second assist of the match at the 3:28 mark as he found Szabo, who put the shot away and gave the Tigers a 9-8 lead. Pepperdine answered less than 30 seconds later, tying the match at 9-9.

Both teams had their chances to win as time wound down. Pacific came up empty on a power play before shots from Tomasevic, Koning, and Erdelyi were saved. The Waves had a breakaway with less than one minute left that was saved by the Tigers' goalkeeper, sophomore Alex Malkis.

Playing in their second overtime match in as many meetings, the hosts netted first to take a 10-9 lead. With just three seconds left, Koning scored his fourth goal of the match off of a pass from Szabo to knot things at 10-10 with three minutes left.

The Tigers would draw an ejection early in the second overtime but failed to convert as junior Jason Wensley's shot was blocked. A Pepperdine score from junior Spencer Hamby at the 1:48 mark proved to be the game-winner as Pacific had shots blocked at the 40 second mark and as time expired.

Koning paced Pacific with four goals, his ninth multi-goal outing of the season. Szabo recorded a pair of scores on the day.

Manning the cage for the Tigers was Malkis, who tallied 13 saves, his eighth double-figure save outing of the year.

Pepperdine was led by junior Matthew DeTrane, who scored four times for the Waves. Sophomore Bence Valics recorded 13 saves.

The Tigers are back at home this Friday, October 21, where they will face off against No. 1 Stanford at 3 p.m. in an MPSF contest.

Goals
Pacific - Koning 4, Szabo 2, Erdelyi, Lungu, Reardon, Tomasevic
Pepperdine - DeTrane 4, Hamby 2, Loomis 2, Milcovich, Picone, Tragitt

Saves
Pacific - Malkis 13
Pepperdine - Valics 13