BOX SCORE
IRVINE, Calif. – The first day of UC Irvine's Barbara Kalbus Invitational has concluded, with #16 LMU dropping its opening game against #4 USC, 20-8.
The Trojans scored the game's first three goals, before
Melyssa Moore put LMU on the board with 4:03 to play in the first. After USC jumped ahead 5-1,
Alena Sanchez converted a penalty shot goal with less than two minutes to play in the period. USC took a 7-2 advantage after the opening eight minutes.
Isabella Barajas had a quick response to USC's opening goal of the second quarter, scoring with 5:49 to play in the half to make it an 8-3 game. The Trojans closed out the half with four unanswered goals.
Only one goal was scored in third period, and it came in the final nine seconds.
Mei Vilanova cut it to a 13-4 game in the closing seconds of the quarter.
LMU's most prolific scoring quarter came in the final eight minutes. Once USC scored the first three goals,
Kelsey Snelgar finished her first of the day with 5:30 remaining. The Trojans added two more before back-to-back goals by Barajas thirty seconds apart from one another completed her hat trick and made it an 18-7 game. Barajas would add one more in the period for a game-high four goals.
#12 Long Beach State lost to #6 UC Irvine, 12-9. The hosts will play USC on Saturday, with the Beach set for a rematch with LMU at 11:45 a.m. from Corona del Mar Pool. Every higher seed won on Friday, with the exception of #10 Michigan beating #7 California and #9 UC Santa Barbara topping #8 UC San Diego, each by a goal.
