Feb. 10, 2008

La Jolla, CA -- After defeating Cal Baptist 12-3 in the opening round of the 2008 UCSD Triton Invitational, the 12th-ranked Loyola Marymount women's water polo scored on a penalty shot from freshman Mary Ann Campos in sudden death overtime to lift the Lions to a 12-11 win over No. 15 UC San Diego on Saturday afternoon.

With the two wins in the opening round of the tournament, the Lions advance to the championship bracket of the Triton Invite for the fifth straight year. LMU improves to 2-1 on the season and will face No. 9 UC Irvine at 11:45 in the first semifinal. The other semifinal features No. 6 an Diego State and No. 16 UC Santa Barbara at 10:30 a.m.

Against UC San Diego, the Lions jumped out to a 2-0 lead and then held on to a 3-2 margin after one period. The Lions could not separate and with a 8-7 lead heading into the fourth, the Tritons tied it at 8-8 to send it to overtime.

In the two overtime periods the Lions, who never trailed in the game, took leads of 9-8 and 10-9 only to have UCSD tie it each time. Then with nine seconds remaining in the second overtime the Lions looked to get the win. Senior Sheena Carter took a pass from fellow senior Alex Wike with nine seconds left and put it in the goal to give LMU a 11-10 lead.

However, UC San Diego scored as time expired to send the game into sudden death overtime. On the first possession, Carter drew a 5-meter penalty on UCSD to set-up the penalty shot by Campos to win it.

"That was one of the funnest games we have played in a long time," said Head Coach John Loughran. "Nicole Hughes (the Lions leading scorer in 2007) fouled out of the game in the third quarter and throughout the rest of the game and overtime we were playing with three freshman and and a first-year starter in goal. We played really well. We are getting better each day and I am happy how we are progressing."