MALIBU, Calif. – No. 14 UC Irvine fell short against No. 9 Pepperdine, 9-6, in Golden Coast Conference play Saturday morning in Malibu.

UCI outscored Pepperdine, 4-2, in the second half but the Waves used a 7-2 advantage in the first half to hold on for the win.

The Anteaters move to 7-8 overall and 0-1 in GCC play while Waves improve to 13-7 on the season and 1-0 in conference action.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Dylan Patist and Zlatan Nikocevic each scored two goal
> Casey Lynton and Stewart Campbell added one goal apiece
> Harrison Land played a complete goal in game and tallied six saves
> UCI outshot Pepperdine, 32-25, and went 4-of-7 on powerplays while the Waves were 1-of-5
> The Waves' Nicholas Fichman led all scorers with three goals  

Quarter One
> Pepperdine took a 2-0 lead before Patist fired in a goal to make it 2-1 with 5:26 to play
> The Waves went on a 3-0 run to take a 5-1 lead with 3:24 remaining
> Patist scored on a powerplay to make it, 5-2, with 25 seconds on the clock

Quarter Two
> The Anteaters could not find the back of the net in the second quarter while Pepperdine added two goals to take a 7-2 lead at the half

Quarter Three
> The UCI defense locked down in the third quarter, not allowing the Waves to score
> Nikocevic fired in a goal on an extraman opportunity to make it a 7-3 game

Quarter Four
> Nikocevic and Lynton fired in back-to-back goals to bring the 'Eaters within two, 7-5, with 5:57 to play
> The Waves responded, scoring two-consecutive goals to extend their lead, 9-5, with just under a minute to play
> Campbell scored on a powerplay with 11 seconds remaining but it wasn't enough as UCI fell, 9-6

UP NEXT
> UCI continues conference play with a game at San Jose State Saturday, Oct. 23 at 12 p.m.