BERKELEY, Calif. – The #17 LMU men's water polo team opened the MPSF Tournament with a strong showing against the tied for third ranked team in the country, Stanford. The Cardinal won the game, 13-8.
 
Stanford scored the game's first two goals off power play opportunities. Blazo Mitrovic put LMU on the board capitalizing on the man advantage as well. In the closing seconds of the first quarter, the Cardinal earned one back to make it a 3-1 game after the first eight minutes.
 
After Stanford extended their lead to 4-1, Alexandros Athymaritis scored at even strength to cut into the deficit. The Cardinal built up a lead to 7-2 before Jonny Rimlinger scored three unanswered goals in the final two and a half minutes of the half to make it a 7-5 game at intermission.
 
The Cardinal came out of halftime with the first goal of the third period, but Rimlinger converted again with 4:13 on the clock to cut the deficit back down to two. Stanford closed out the half with the next three goals to take an 11-7 lead.
 
Rimlinger was the spark entering the fourth quarter as well, opening the final period with two more goals. The Cardinal closed out the period with the final two unanswered to take the game.
 
The tournament will continue on Saturday will LMU opening the day with a rematch against UC San Diego at 8:00 AM from Legends Aquatics Center.