March 18, 2011

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Lions opened the 11th Annual LMU Invitational with a pair of wins at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Friday. The Lions earned a come-from-behind 11-6 win over Western Water Polo Association foe Colorado State and then coasted to a 21-1 win over Whittier.

The Lions improve to 14-4 on the season and will face a pair of ranked foes in the final day of the LMU Invitational on Saturday. The Lions will face 10th-ranked Long Beach State in Game No. 9 at 10:15 a.m., and then will close the tournament with No. 18 Princeton at 4:30 p.m.

In the Lions' first game, Colorado State's Kallie Berry scored with 2:17 left in the first half to give the Rams a 4-2 lead. Alexandra Honny would answer a minute later to cut the lead to one, but the Lions still trailed at halftime, 4-3.

All season the Lions have thrived in the second half, and they did it once again.

The Lions scored on their first three possessions of the second half to kick-start a six-goal third quarter that saw the Lions take a 9-6 lead. They coasted down the stretch thanks to outscoring the Rams 8-3 in the second half.

Freshman Honny had her second consecutive hat-trick while Kimberly Benedetti also had three goals.

In the final game of the day, the Lions didn't need any second half push thanks to a 14-goal first half.

The 21 goals matches an LMU record for goals in a game and the 20-goal win is the largest in program history.

Other games in Day One of the 2011 LMU Invitational:

Game 1: Colorado State 10, Sonoma State 8
Colorado State would rally to post a 10-8 win over conference rival Sonoma State. The Rams trailed 6-5 with just over a minute to play in the third quarter, but scored four unanswered to take the lead for good in a goal-to-goal contest featuring a pair of Western Water Polo Association programs. The Rams would take a 9-6 lead before the Seawolves would go on a rally of their own, cutting the lead to 9-8. Natalie Berge would score with 2:31 to play for the final cushion. She along with teammate ORsi Nadasdy had three goals each.

Game 2: #10 Long Beach St. 7, #18 Princeton 5
Long Beach State built a 5-1 lead at the break and would hold off Princeton down the stretch for a 7-5 win. Molly McBee led Princeton with three goals, while Chelsea Parks had three goals for Long Beach State.

Game 3: Whittier 4, Cal State San Bernardino 2
Whittier scored four unanswered to earn a 4-2 win over Cal State San Bernardino. Katrina Thoreson scored three of the four for the Poets. Bryanna Burns had seven saves for the Coyotes, while Whitter's Mattie Winkler had six.

Game 5: #10 Long Beach St. 10, Sonoma St. 2
Long Beach State overcame a slow start and scored nine straight to earn a 10-2 win over Sonoma State. With the game tied at 1-1 halfway through the first period, the 49ers would score the next nine goals for the win. Eight different players scored for the Beach.

Game 6: #18 Princeton 11, CS San Bernardino 6
Princeton outscored Cal State San Bernardino 6-1 in the second half to post an 11-6 win in Game No. 6. With the game tied at 5-5 at the break, the Tigers outscored the Coyotes 2-1 in the third and then shutout CSUSB 4-0 in the final quarter. Saranna Soroka scored three goals for the Tigers.

Day Two Schedule
Game #08 9:00 a.m. CS San Bernardino vs. Colorado State
Game #09 10:15 a.m. LMU vs. Long Beach St.
Game #10 11:30 a.m. Princeton vs. Sonoma St.
Game #11 12:45 p.m. Colorado State vs. Whittier
Game #12 2:00 p.m. CS San Bernardino vs. Long Beach St.
Game #13 3:15 p.m. Sonoma State vs. Whittier
Game #14 4:30 p.m. LMU vs. Princeton