MALIBU, Calif. — The No. 12-ranked Princeton University Tigers dropped a 9-7 decision at No. 10 Pepperdine University.
After allowing the first goal of the game via a penalty shot by Sandor Gal with 4:48 left in the first quarter, the Tigers blunted the Waves with a man-up strike by Vladan Mitrovic (3:54), a penalty shot from Keller Maloney (2:53) and an even-strength marker from Mitrovic (1:59) to pull ahead 3-1 after eight minutes of action.
Princeton continued its offensive onslaught to start the second quarter as Maloney pumped in an extra-man strike at 6:26 to push the Tigers out to a 4-1 lead. Austin Smit snapped the run by lobbing in a man-up score for Pepperdine at 5:54, but Pierce Maloney (5:03) answered by converting a six-on-five chance at 5:03 to set the scoreboard at 5-2 in favor of the Orange & Black.
However, the Waves crashed over the remainder of the first half as former Harvard University standout Dennis Blyashov (4:48, penalty shot), Kaden Kaneko (3:50, even-strength) and Gal (50 seconds, even-strength) put in chances to deadlock the teams at five-all entering halftime.
Neither team mustered significant offense in the third quarter until the waning seconds as Ryan Neapole (13 seconds, man-up) pushed Princeton ahead before Gal (two seconds, even-strength) deadlocked the squads at six-all heading into the penultimate fourth quarter.
Princeton regained the lead at 7-6 22 seconds into the fourth quarter as Mitrovic lined in a strike at 7:38. However, Pepperdine took command of the game as Travis Reynolds (6:34), Gal (4:56) and Anthony D’Ambra (4:09) connected on the final three scores of the contest to allow the Waves to elude Princeton.
For Princeton, Mitrovic led the way with three goals, while Keller Maloney accounted for pairs of goals and assists. Pierce Maloney and Neapole accounted for the remainder of the Tigers’ offense in support of a six save effort by netminder Antonio Knez.
Across the tank, Gal finished with four markers to accompany solo strikes by D’Ambra, Kaneko, Smit and Blyashov. Zach Cwiertnia picked up the win between the pipes with 13 saves.
