Feb. 10, 2008

La Jolla, CA -- The 12th-ranked Loyola Marymount women's water polo team took an impressive second place in the 2008 UC San Diego Triton Invitaitonal on Sunday. The Lions defeated No. 9 UC Irvine 9-8 but fell to No. 6 San Diego State 10-9.

All three of the Lions matches in the championship bracket were decided by one goal in the final minutes as the Lions advanced to the championship game of the tournament for the fourth time in a row.

Against UC Irvine, the Lions fell down 4-2 afte the first period. Goals by Carrie Kosnik and Nicole Hughes in the second period had the Lions down just one, 5-4, at the break.

The Lions fell down by a pair of goals as Hughes was the only Lion to score in the third period. However, they would stage a come back.

It start on the first possession as Hughes scored her third of the game to make the score 7-6 in favor of UCI at the 7:35 mark of the fourth quarter. Just over two minutes later Alissa Volosin would tie the game at 7-7 with her only goal of the game. UC Irvine regained the lead on a 6-on-5 goal with 3:15 to play, 8-7.

The lead did not last long as on the next trip Daisy Fish scored her second goal of the game to tie the contest at 8-8. Then with just 1:07 to play, senior Alex Wike scored the game winner, her only goal of the game, to put the Lions into the title game against SDSU.

Against the Aztecs, it was the Lions who jumped out early. They took a 2-0 lead on goals from Mary Ann Campos and Crisara Abrams. The lead would extend to 5-2 a the half thanks to another goal from Abrams and two more goals from Hughes and Wike.

The third period featured eight total goals, five from the Aztecs who worked back into the contest. The teams traded goals to start the period but SDSU scored four straight to tie the game at 6-6 with 2:41 and then took the lead at 7-6 with 1:21 to lay in the quarter.

LMU regrouped and scored the final two goals of the quarter. Campos scored the first at 1:01 and Wike the second with just seven seconds remaining.

SDSU tied the game on a 5-meter with 6:52 remaining in the game but LMU wasn't done yet as Diana Romero scored the go ahead go at 5:32. However, SDSU would tie the game with 2:19 to play and then the game winner on another 6-on-5 with 31 seconds to play.

The Lions head to the UC Irvine Tournament on Feb. 23 and 24.

Triton Invitational - Game 1 Box Score
Cal Baptist - 1 - 1 - 0 - 1 --- 3
#12 LMU - 4 - 3 - 3 - 3 --- 12
Scoring: CB - Owen 2, Stauser; LMU - Nicole Hughes 4, Daisy Fish 2, Carrie Kosnik, Kellen Fletcher, Sheena Carter, Charis Ceniseroz, Erin Sandford, Alex Wike.

Triton Invitational - Game 2 Box Score
#16 UCSD - 2 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 0 - 11
#12 LMU - 3 - 3 - 2 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 12
Scoring: UCSD - Stepanie H. 4, Herman 3, Sydney 3, Audra 1. LMU - Mary Ann Campos 3, Nicole Hughes 3, Alex Wike 2, Sheena Carter, Daisy Fish, Diana Romero.

Triton Invitational - Game 3 Box Score
#9 UC Irvine - 4 - 1 - 2 - 1 --- 8
#12 LMU - 2 - 2 - 1 - 4 - 9
Scoring: UCI - Rossi 2, Fassauer 2, Plummer 2, Lewis, Collyer. LMU - Nicole Hughes 3, Daisy Fish 2, Alex Wike, Carrie Kosnik, Diana Romero, Alissa Volosin.

Triton Invitational - Game 4 Box Score
#12 LMU - 2 - 3 - 3 - 1 --- 9
#6 SDSU - 0 - 2 - 5 - 3 --- 10
Scoring: LMU - Alex Wike 3, Crisara Abrams 2, Mary Ann Campos 2, Nicole Hughes, Diana Romero. SDSU - Gonzalez 4, Schuster 3, Greenwood 2, Pelke.