LOS ANGELES – The Loyola Marymount women's water polo team knew the challenge ahead of them at Saturday morning's UCLA Mini Tournament. The #15 Lions (2-2) took both #3 UCLA (10-0) and #5 Hawaii (6-1) to the final minute of play before falling just short in each game.
Game 1:#3 UCLA 9, #15 LMU 8
The Lions jumped out to an early lead against the host Bruins, scoring back-to-back goals 30 seconds apart to take a 2-0 lead.
Abbey Grosse scored with 3:02 to play in the opening period and
Katie Hungerford followed on the ensuing LMU possession with 2:32 on the clock. UCLA got one back just before the two minute mark to make it a 2-1 game after one.
Marialena Seletopoulou pushed the LMU lead back up to two goals with her goal on LMU's first possession of the second quarter. The Bruins responded with three consecutive powerplay goals to take their first lead of the game, 4-3, with less a minute remaining in the half, before LMU evened the score at four all heading into intermission.
The Lions retook the lead to open the third quarter, with
Abbey Grosse scoring her second of the game. After the Bruins tied it back up,
Hana Vilanova pushed LMU ahead, 6-5, in the final 1:29 of the third quarter.
The lead was extended to begin the fourth quarter when Seletopoulou converted a penalty shot to make it 7-5. Once the Bruins chipped away with a goal, Vilanova again provided a response, scoring with 4:41 to play and pushing the LMU lead to 8-6. UCLA closed out the game with the final three goals, including tying the score with 3:07 to play and going ahead with 35 seconds left on the clock.
Game 2:#5 Hawaii 19, #15 LMU 17 (2OT)
After Hawaii scored the game's opening goal, LMU scored two consecutive to take a first quarter lead, 2-1.
Marialena Seletopoulou equalized with 5:39 on the clock, then scored a second powerplay goal to push the Lions ahead with 4:43 remaining in the opening period. The Wahine closed out the period with three-straight goals to take a 4-2 advantage into the second.
The Lions opened the second quarter with back-to-back goals from
Hana Vilanova to tie the score at four apiece with 4:56 remaining. Vilanova scored all three goals of the second, but Hawaii pushed away to take a 6-5 lead into intermission.
Mollie Williams kicked off the third with a game-tying goal less than a minute into the period, and Seletopoulou pushed the Lions ahead, 9-8, with 6:19 to play before Hawaii rattled off three consecutive to take a 9-7 advantage. Vilanova ended that stretch with a goal at the 4:14 mark. The Wahine pushed ahead by two with 2:26 remaining in the third. The Lions scored twice in the final minute of the period, once by
Melyssa Moore and the other by Seletopoulou, to even the score at 10-all entering the final period of regulation.
Morgan Molloy opened the fourth with the go-ahead goal with 7:42 before Hawaii answered on their next possession. The two teams traded off scoring once again as ViIanova pushed LMU ahead and Hawaii responded to tie it. That goal sparked a 4-0 run to push Hawaii ahead 15-12 with two minutes remaining in the quarter. The Lions showed no panic and rattled off the next three goals to force overtime. Molloy scored with 1:44 remaining, and then Seletopoulou scored both with 57 seconds and 32 seconds to even the score and push the game to extra time.
The Lions jumped ahead first in the overtime session with Molloy capitalizing. Hawaii then scored the final four goals of first session to make it a 19-16 game.
Molloy's fourth goal of the game came as time expired in the final extra period, ending the game at 19-17 in favor of Hawaii.
Up Next:
The Lions will spend next weekend in La Jolla, Calif., for the two-day UCSD Triton Invitational.
