Kap7 NorCal Classic Tournament Central
STOCKTON, Calif. --- Lovre Milos scored the game-winning goal in sudden-death overtime to lift UC Irvine past Pepperdine, 12-11, in the Kap7 NorCal Classic at Stockton Sunday.
His score boosted the Anteaters (9-2), who had seen a three-goal lead dissipate in overtime.
In the first three-minute overtime session, goals by Milos and Kyle Trush put the 'Eaters up 10-8 and they extended the lead to 11-8 on a score by Larson Pfeil with 2:19 left in the second three-minute period.
Pepperdine then scored three straight goals, the last by Brock Liebhardt with two seconds remaining in overtime, to send the game into sudden death, where Milos notched the game-winner 1:06 into the extra session.
A goal by Milos with 6:54 remaining in the fourth quarter gave UCI an 8-6 lead, but the Waves scored twice in the final six minutes of regulation to tie the game at 8-8.
Milos scored a game-high five goals and Jacob Mourer added two while freshman goalie Byron Rivers had 15 saves.
Luke Hewko, who scored the game-tying goal in the fourth quarter, led the Waves with four goals.
"It's a good result against Pepperdine that we really made more difficult then necessary," UCI head coach Marc Hunt said. "We remained mentally tough to hang on for the win.
"We had strong play from freshman goalie Byron Rivers, who had a great game with 15 saves. Overall, we have some very good individual efforts and Lovre, Trush, Skinner, (Alan) Robertson and Mourer are doing most of the heavy lifting.
"We struggle with finding our team offensive flow and mix that with a fragmented defense of sorts, I'm not surprised really," Hunt continued. "The team is still getting to know each other and we are at an infancy stage of learning to work together."
UCI will face UC Davis in the ninth-place game at 5:20 p.m.
Pepperdine 1-3-2-2-3-0 --- 11
UC Irvine 2-3-2-1-3-1 --- 12
Pep: Luke Hewko 4, Jake Schrimpf 3, Wesley Sherburne, Kenneth Keller, Brock Liebhardt, Charles Olsen.
UCI: Lovre Milos 5, Jacob Mourer 2, Larson Pfeil, Justin Papa, Jared Osborn, Matt Skinner, Kyle Trush.
Saves: Zack Rhodes (Pep) 9; Byron Rivers (UCI) 15.
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