LOS ANGELES – Coming home felt good for the Loyola Marymount women's water polo team (13-7). The Lions won all four games in the LMU Invitational this weekend to close out the non-conference schedule. LMU opened Saturday with a win over #20 Marist and followed it with a win over #14 Princeton to close out the weekend.
GAME 1: #12 LMU 10, #20 Marist 6
After Marist opened the day with a goal,
Morgan Molloy and
Mollie Williams scored consecutive goals to five LMU the lead. The Red Foxes added one more in the final 1:15 to make it a 2-2 game after the first eight minute session.
LMU scored the first two goals of the second quarter, with
Katie Hungerford and
Marialena Seletopoulou converting early in the period. After Marist tied it back up, Seletopoulou closed out the half with a pair of assists in the final minute to Molloy and
Melyssa Moore, to make it a 6-4 game at the break.
The Lions then continued their run with the opening two goals of the second half to extend the lead to 8-4. Goals by Molloy and
Abbey Grosse were the only two scores of the third quarter.
Marist scored the first goal of the fourth, before Seletopoulou and Hungerford each followed with their second goals of the day. The Red Foxes added one with 16 seconds remaining to make it a 10-6 final.
Sky Flores recorded eight saves in her 32 minutes in the cage.
GAME 2: #12 LMU 10, #14 Princeton 7
Morgan Molloy and
Marialena Seletopoulou kicked the game off with back-to-back goals to give LMU the early lead in their final game of the tournament. After Princeton evened the score at 2-2,
Melyssa Moore broke free for a counterattack goal with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter. The Tigers scored in the final second to make it a 3-3 tie game after the first.
The two teams traded off all six goals in the second quarter. The Lions took the lead back with another Molloy goal to open the second quarter before Princeton tied it back up.
Serena Zafiris then capitalized on the 6-on-5 before the Tigers did the same. Seletopoulou then pushed LMU ahead before Princeton responded with 35 seconds on the clock to make it a 6-6 game at the half.
LMU came out of intermission with the first goal of the second half at
Mollie Williams scored her first of the game to go along with three assists. The Tigers would even the score one final time at 7-up before
Hana Vilanova put LMU up for good with 1:20 remaining in the third.
Both fourth quarter goals came from the Lions as both Molloy and Seletopoulou converted their third each of the game to secure the 10-7 victory.
Playing every minute in cage over the weekend,
Sky Flores added nine saves against the Tigers.
Up Next
Conference play begins this next week for the Lions. LMU begins their string of three consecutive home GCC games on Friday and Saturday as San Diego State and Azusa Pacific each visit Burns Aquatics Center on consecutive days.
