IRVINE, Calif. - #12 Loyola Marymount women's water polo opened the second day of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational with a win over #T-17 Long Beach State, but couldn't earn the win against #7 UC Irvine to close out the day.
Game 1: #12 LMU 14, #T-17 LBSU 13
Hana Vilanova opened the game with consecutive goals to push the Lions ahead 2-0. After LBSU evened the game,
Morgan Molloy scored her first of five goals to push LMU back on top. The first quarter ended at 3-all.
Katie Hungerford and Molloy gave the Lions their two goal advantage to open the second period. The two teams then traded off the next seven goals to head into halftime. Scoring for the Lions were Molloy,
Marialena Seletopoulou, and
Mollie Williams to make it an 8-7 lead at intermission.
Long Beach State took their first lead of the game before Molloy and Vilanova put the Lions back on top, 10-9, with 3:46 to play in the period. After the score was tied back up at 10-10, Seletopoulou added another to push the Lions ahead entering the fourth.
Seletopoulou then opened the fourth quarter with her third of the game. LBSU cut it to a one-goal game with 3:33 to play, but Molloy added to the score line with a powerplay goal with 2:57 on the clock and forcing a timeout. Each team scored on their next three possessions, but
Alena Sanchez's goal with 2:22 proved to be the game-winner.
Game 2: #7 UCI 15, #12 LMU 10
UCI jumped out to a 2-0 lead before
Marialena Seletopoulou converted a powerplay goal with 6:26 to play in the first. After the Anteaters went up 3-1,
Abbey Grosse and
Hana Vilanova evened the score with back-to-back goals. Irvine added one on a 5-meter before the end of the quarter to take a 4-3 advantage into the second.
The 'Eaters extended their lead to 6-3 before
Mollie Williams ended the run. Seletopoulou scored three goals the rest of the half, but UCI took a 9-7 lead into the break.
After Irvine scored to open the third, Vilanova added a powerplay goal to make it a 10-8 game. UCI scored three of the next four, with Grosse also converting with a player advantage.
The Anteaters scored three of the game's final four goals, with Seletopoulou's fifth of the game being LMU's bright point of the quarter.
Up Next:
The Lions face #T-17 UC San Diego Saturday at 11:30 AM from Corona del Mar Pool. LMU defeated the Tritons on Feb. 15, 12-6.
