LOS ANGELES – The LMU men's water polo team earned a win in the morning on Saturday's second day of the 2019 SoCal Invitational, before coming up short in the nightcap after playing UC Davis to the end. The #13 Lions (4-7) topped #14 Princeton 15-13 in the noon game before losing to #9 UC Davis by the same margin, 18-16, to close out the day. LMU will play #10 UC Irvine in Sunday's 11^th place game at 11:30 a.m. Games begin at 8:30 a.m. from the Burns Aquatics Center and are scheduled to begin every hour and a half thereafter.
 
#13 LMU 15, #14 Princeton 13
 
LMU played a back-and-forth first quarter, with neither team holding a lead larger than one goal. Blazo Mitrovic and Alexandros Athymaritis each scored a pair in the first, Matthew Knoedler each adding a goal of his own. Despite the five goals, LMU trailed, 6-5, after one period.
 
Upon entering the second quarter, the Lions made a goalkeeper change and put Jon Lien in the cage. Lien came up big time and again, recorded 10 saves and three steals in his 24 minutes en route to the win.
 
LMU would take the lead for good in the second quarter in front of Lien. David Carrasco opened the quarter with the tying goal, before the Tigers immediately took the lead back 40 seconds later. After Carrasco tied it again, back-to-back goals by Knoedler pushed LMU ahead by a pair. Princeton added one with 22 seconds remaining to make it a one-goal game at the half.
 
Back-to-back goals by Alexandros Athymaritis and Luke Chandler to open the second half pushed the lead to three, and a later goal at the 4:55 mark of the third by Daniel Roth extended it to 12-8. After Princeton converted one, Roth would score once again to close out the period with LMU leading 13-9.
 
Despite Princeton outscoring LMU in the final period, goals by Jonny Rimlinger and Athymaritis in the middle of the period was the cushion that the Lions needed to pick up their first home win of the year.

#9 UC Davis 18, #13 LMU 16
 
The final game of the night was filled with scoring as the two teams combined for 34 goals in a regulation session. Blazo Mitrovic opened the game with his first of three, before the Aggies took a 4-1 lead. Daniel Roth got one back for the Lions, but LMU trailed after one period, 5-2.
 
An offensive flourish in the second quarter allowed the Lions to climb back into the game and tie the score at 7-7. Roth, Mitrovic, Chandler, and two by Athymaritis evened the score a the 3:28 mark. After UC Davis retook their lead, Mitrovic tied the game back up at 8-all with 2:43 remaining until halftime. The Lions would go into intermission training 10-8.
LMU continued to fight, evening the score in the third quarter, 12-12, following goals by four different Lions, Alexandros Athymaritis, Austin Clark, Jonny Rimlinger, and Matthew Knoedler. The Aggies would again take the advantage to close out the period, but Rimlinger's goal with eight seconds remaining make it a 14-13 deficit entering the fourth.
 
The comeback bid came up short in the final period with LMU unable to find the equalizer. After UC Davis pushed it to a three-goal game, Athymaritis got one back for the Lions with 5:48 remaining. Back-to-back powerplay goals by Rimlinger and Chandler gave the Lions a chance down just one with 3:20 on the clock. The Aggies scored the only goal of the final three minutes to take the game.