BOX SCORE
 
FRESNO, Calif. – With Friday's 13-8 win the opening round of the Golden Coast Conference Championships, Loyola Marymount University women's water polo advances to Saturday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m. By defeating the three-seed Cal Baptist, the Lions (20-9, 5-2 GCC) earned their 20^th win of the season for the first time since claiming back-to-back GCC Titles in 2014 and 2015.
 
LMU began the game with a first quarter shutout and the opening two goals, both coming from GCC Newcomer of the Year Marialena Seletopoulou.
 
The Lancers tied the score to open the second, but LMU responded with four unanswered goals to close out the half. Seletopoulou added her third of the day at the 3:43 mark to give the lead back to the Lions for good. All-GCC First Team performer Hana Vilanova scored twice in the final 1:39, with Alena Sanchez adding one as well late in the half's final minutes.
 
Mollie Williams opened the third quarter with a goal on LMU's opening possession less than a minute into play. Vilanova extended the lead to 8-2, with a converted 5-Meter shot at the 6:29 mark. The Lancers scored the next two goals before senior Katie Hungerford used one of her game-high four steals to get the ball close to goal and score one for the Lions to make it a 9-4 game. After CBU got one back, Seletopoulou and Vilanova scored their fourth goals apiece to push it to a 11-5 game entering the fourth.
 
Mei Vilanova and Megan Plank each converted powerplay goals to open the fourth quarter and give LMU a game-high eight-goal lead. The Lancers scored the final three goals, but the cushion was too large as LMU held on to win 13-8.
 
The Lions play the winner of the tournament's second game, 2-seed San Diego State, Saturday afternoon.