May 1, 2010

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The LMU women's water polo team continued their offensive assult at the 2010 Western Water Polo Association Women's Championships, knocking off host Cal State Bakersfield 18-5 in the second semifinal at the Hillman Aquatics Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Lions advance to Sunday's championship game against No. 2 seed UC San Diego, who was a 14-8 winner over Colorado State. The game will end the tournament with a start time of 3 p.m.

"We have played with a lot of purpose in these first two games," said Head Coach Kyle Witt. "We have been stressing really putting the pressure on teams early, and we have really done a good job of that."

It will be the fourth time UCSD and LMU will meet in the WWPA final, the last time coming in 2004, which was also the Tritons last trip to the WWPA title game. The Lions won in 2002 8-4, in 2003 8-4 and in 2004 7-3.

The Lions find themselves back to the title game with more offense. After going for a season-high 19 in the first round, the Lions led 6-3 at the half and then exploded for seven third period goals to put the game away. The Lions outscored the Roadrunners 12-2 in the second half.

Leading the way was junior Diana Romero with four goals while sophomore Kimberly Benedetti added three more goals. Benedetti has eight goals in the two games to pace a Lions offense who has scored 37 goals in two days, the most through two days at the WWPA Championships in program history.

The Lions scored the first four goals of the game to take a 4-0 lead after the first period. CSUB scored three of the next four goals to cut the lead to 5-3 with 5:24 to play in the half. Benedetti scored with 5:09 to play in the second quarter, staring a stretch of six unanswered goals that saw LMU put the game away.

"The start of each half was really solid," said Witt. "We are really running our offense well, and we feel that we are hard to beat when we really put constant pressure on from the start. We will have to continue to do that to be successful on Sunday in the title game."

The Lions will look for their eighth title in 10 years and second straight.