BOX SCORE
 
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Loyola Marymount men's water polo team came out to play Wednesday night. The #18 Lions (3-6, 1-1 WWPA) jumped out to a 6-3 lead, but #UC San Diego (9-2, 2-0 WWPA) fought back to win, 22-12.
 
Behind Robert Halligan's 10 first quarter saves and Blazo Mitrovic's first quarter hat trick, the Lions erased an early deficit to take a 4-3 lead after one. Reigning WWPA Player of the Week Alexandros Athymaritis scored the opening goal for the Lions, then it was Mitrovic that took LMU from down 3-2 to up a goal after the opening eight minutes.
 
The lead grew to 6-3 after Austin Clark and Mitrovic opened the second quarter with goals in the first minute and a half of play. UCSD then rattled off five straight and seven of the next eight goals to retake the lead heading into halftime. Athymaritis' second of the game broke up the Triton run.
 
After San Diego opened with two in the third, Mitrovic scored on a penalty shot, one of four he capitalized on from the 5-meter mark during the game. The Tritons and Lions traded goals the next two scores, with Athymaritis answering after UC San Diego scored. UCSD scored three of the final four goals of the third, with another 5-meter from Mitrovic making it a 17-10 game after three periods.
 
MItrovic's career-high seventh goal of the game and one from Joseph Shaw was the last effort from the Lions, but the eighth-ranked team in the country put too much together and closed out the match with a 22-12 win.
 
Halligan finished his night with 13 saves and a steal in net.
 
The Lions return to Burns Aquatics Center on Saturday as conference play continues. LMU hosts Fresno Pacific at noon, with LMU Water Polo Shirts being given out to the first 100 fans.