TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
LA JOLLA, Calif. – #14 LMU's two opponents on the second day of the opening weekend Triton Invitational were both preseason top-10 selections in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Poll. The Lions (1-3) earned second place in Group A, then took eighth place overall in the 14-team tournament following Sunday losses to #T-7 Pepperdine and #10 UC Davis
Game 3: #T-7 Pepperdine 19, #14 LMU 14
Joseph Shaw scored the high-scoring game's first goal less than two minutes into the action to put the Lions ahead early. After Pepperdine came back to tie it,
Daniel Roth gave the lead back to the Lions with 4:45 on the clock. The Waves responded with five consecutive goals before
Luke Chandler ended the opponent's run. Pepperdine would make it a 7-3 game after the opening eight minutes, the only quarter that didn't feature the same amount of goals by each team.
The deficit grew to 10-3 in the second quarter before Shaw and Roth were able to get a pair back for the Lions with back-to-back goals 30 seconds apart.
Alexandros Athymaritis helped LMU close out the half with three unanswered goals and sent the Lions into intermission trialing 10-6.
Four different Lions scored in the third quarter, and made it as tight as a three-goal difference in the period, 12-9, before the Waves built their lead back up to 15-10 after three. Athymaritis,
David Carrasco,
Austin Clark, and
Jonny Rimlinger each scored in the period.
Similarly, the fourth goal featured four goals scored by four unique Lions, but every score seemingly had a response by Pepperdine. Athymaritis scored his team-high third goal in the fourth quarter, and was joined in the scoring column by teammates Carrasco,
Christian Huhn, and
Matthew Knoedler.
Game 4: #10 UC Davis 14, #14 LMU 13
Neither team was able to build up a lead larger than one goal throughout the course of the game, and the first eight minutes finished tied at 5-all. LMU responded to an early 1-0 deficit with consecutive goals by
Alexandros Athymaritis and
David Carrasco. The teams would trade off the remaining goals of the period, with Athymaritis and Carrasco each adding another and
Jonny Rimlinger scoring one.
Daniel Roth gave the Lions the early second quarter lead, but again neither was able to build in a cushion.
Matthew Knoedler would join Carrasco and Athymaritis with goals in the period. Athymaritis scored his goal with 12 seconds remaining until halftime to make it a 9-9 game at the break.
Blazo Mitrovic scored his first goal of the day to give LMU a 10-9 lead with 4:53 remaining in the third, but the Aggies responded with the final two goals of the period to take a one-goal lead into the fourth quarter.
Mitrovic tied the game back up at 11-all with his goal at the 7:10 mark of the fourth. After UC Davis retook the lead,
Daniel Roth scored back-to-back goals to put the Lions ahead with 2:57 remaining in the game. The Aggies scored the game's final two goals to take the 7
th-place game in regulation, 14-13.
Up Next: WWPA/GCC Challenge
LMU will host their first set of home games this Saturday with the WWPA/GCC Challenge. The mini-tournament pairs two schools from each conference against each other with Cal Baptist, Pepperdine, and UC Irvine all participating along with the Lions. LMU's games will be the first and last game of the day at Burns Aquatics Center, scheduled for 10 a.m. and 4:20 a.m., respectively.
