Oct. 24, 2002

Los Angeles, CA (Oct. 24, 2002) --Junior Ryan Chapatte scored 53 seconds into sudden death overtime to lift the seventh-ranked Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team to a 7-6 victory over sixth-ranked Pepperdine at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Thursday afternoon.

The game entered overtime tied at 5-5. Both senior Kevin Witt for the Lions and sophomore Jesse Smith for the Waves netted hat-tricks in regulation to lead their teams to overtime. The Waves would score in the first overtime period on an extra-man goal by Jeremy Grubbs. The Lions evened the score at 6-6 in the second overtime period on a goal by senior Eric Lefebvre to set-up the triple overtime winner by Chapatte.

With the win, the Lions improve to 11-11 on the season and Pepperdine falls to 9-7. It was the first win in seven tries for the Lions against rival Pepperdine.

The Lions came out fast, posting a quick 2-0 lead. Witt would score first at 1:41 remaining in the first period and junior Tamas Szego netted the second goal with just 20 seconds remaining.

Both teams would earn a pair of goals in the second period. LMU would go up 3-0 on Witt's second goal of the game, this one with the extra-man advantage. Smith would get Pepperdine on the board with his first of the game, also on the extra-man attack at the 5:15 mark of the second period. Witt and Smith would each trade a goal to send the game into half with the Lions up 4-2.

Pepperdine would tie the score at 4-4 with two goals in the third period. Grubbs would get his first of two on the game with 5:45 left in the third period. Senior Karl Niehaus would tie the score with 1:25 remaining in the third period.

Lions' goalie Kevin Paulsen came up huge in net for the Lions, grabbing 10 saves, including two in the fourth period to help send the game into overtime. Pepperdine would earn their first lead of the game with 3:54 remaining on Smith's third goal. Just under two minutes later, senior Endre Rex-Kiss would tie the game with two minutes remaining to send it to overtime.

The Lions will host third-ranked California on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 12:00 p.m.

Box Score
Teams		1	2	3	4	OT1	OT2	SD	--	Totals
Pepperdine	0	2	2	1	1	0	0	--	6
LMU		2	2	0	1	0	1	1	--	7
Goals:
Pepperdine - Jesse Smith 3, Jeremy Grubbs 2, Karl Niehaus.
LMU - Kevin Witt 3, Endre Rex-Kiss, Tamas Szego, Eric Lefebvre, Ryan Chapatte (GW)
Saves:
Pepperdine - Michael Soltis 5.
LMU - Kevin Paulsen 10.