BOX SCORE
FRESNO, Calif. – Loyola Marymount men's water polo's quest for a WWPA Championship came up short on Saturday as the #13 Lions fell in their semifinal matchup against #8 UC Davis. The second-seeded Aggies will advance to play top-seeded UC Santa Diego for the NCAA Tournament Automatic Berth on Sunday while LMU will go for third place at 11:15 a.m. against fifth-seeded Air Force.
UC Davis jumped out to a 3-0 lead before
Blazo Mitrovic put LMU on the board with his goal at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter. The Aggies added a few more to take a 6-1 lead after the opening eight minutes.
Dayna Jagga opened the second quarter with a goal less than a minute in off an
Austin Clark assist. After UC Davis pushed it back to a five-goal lead,
Alexandros Athymaritis got the goal back on a powerplay conversion. The Aggies extended their lead to 10-3 at the half.
LMU scored two of the first three goals to open the second half. Athymaritis scored at the 6:33 mark of the third and
Blazo Mitrovic got on the board less than a minute later to cut it to an 11-5 deficit.
Matt Braun put an end to a Davis run with his goal off a
Christian Huhn assist to make it a 15-6 game with less than two minutes remaining in the period. Braun added a 5-Meter goal with 14 ticks left, but Davis took a 17-7 lead into the fourth.
Scott Thomas scored the only goal of the fourth quarter, leading to a 17-8 defeat.
Robert Halligan made three saves in his three quarters in goal, and
Zach Zemliak added a save and a steal as a fourth quarter replacement.
Following LMU's 11:15 a.m. game, the Championship game will be played at 1 p.m.
