Nov. 18, 2012

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WHITTIER, Calif. -- The 11th-ranked LMU men's water polo team ended the 2012 season with an impressive 12-7 win over 16th-ranked UC Davis in the third place game of the 2012 Western Water Polo Association Championships at Whittier College's Slade Aquatics Center Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Lions finish the season 17-10 overall and 12-3 in the WWPA. UC Davis finishes 14-18 and 12-7.

Holding on to a one-goal halftime lead, LMU held UC Davis scoreless in the third quarter and jumped out to a four-goal lead on their way to the five-goal win. Milutin Mitrovic had four goals while John Mikuzis added three and Emanuel Di Satsio added two for the Lions.

On the first possession of the second quarter, Mitrovic scored to put the Lions up 5-2 with 7:07 to play in the half. Santa lara would score the next two goals, including a 6-on-5 goal with 19 seconds left to cut the lead to 5-4 at the break.

LMU's defense would lock down and the offense would capitalize in the third quarter on goals from Mikuzis, Mitrovic and Matt Venner to stretch the lead to 8-4.

UC Davis cut the lead to 8-7, with the third goal coming from Colin Hicks with 5:%4 to play in the game.

That would be the end of the rally as LMU scored the final four-goals of the game in less than three minutes to secure the win.

"We did a much better job in closing out the game today," said Head Coach John Loughran. "Our goal is to play for the WWPA title and we were disappointed to not be in that position. But the guys recovered and with such a young team, it was important we put this game away and finished with a win."