LA JOLLA, Calif. – LMU women's water polo took 10^th place at the UCSD Triton Invitational after winning in the morning to advance to the ninth-place game.
 
GAME 1: #20 LMU 12, #19 San Diego State 11
 
Marialena Seletopoulou gave the Lions the game's opening score nearly three and a half minutes into the game. San Diego State scored the next two goals to take a 2-1 lead into the second.
 
Mollie Williams tied the score with a goal at the 4:17 mark of the second quarter. The tie lasted just 16 seconds as the Aztecs came right back to take a 3-2 advantage. Ruth Arino Ruiz tied the game at 3-all, then followed with a late goal with three seconds on the clock to take the lead.
 
After SDSU tied the game to open the third, Yanah Gerber, Williams, and Kelsey Snelgar put LMU back on top by three. The Aztecs closed the quarter with three of the final four goals, with only Maddy Gault scoring for LMU.
 
San Diego State retook the lead with the first two goals of the fourth quarter before Seletopoulou scored to bring the score to 9-9 with 5:42 to play. SDSU jumped back on top then Snelgar and Alexandra Akritidou gave LMU an 11-10 lead with 1:50 to play. The Aztecs scored with 1:34 remaining to even the game at 11-all. After forcing an exclusion, LMU had a chance to win it in regulation. With 30 seconds on the game clock, Williams scored the game-winning goal to advance LMU into the 9^th-place game.

GAME 2: #16 UC Santa Barbara 14, #20 LMU 13
 
LMU fell behind 1-0 before Marialena Seletopoulou and Alena Sanchez scored to give LMU a lead. The Gauchos scored twice in the final 1:20 to take a 3-2 advantage.
 
UC Santa Barbara extended their lead before Alexandra Akritidou and Mollie Williams scored to even the game halfway through the second quarter. The Gauchos scored the final three goals of the half to take a 7-4 lead.
 
The Lions used a 4-1 surge in the third quarter to tie the game at 8-8 entering the final eight minutes of play. Sanchez, Seletopoulou, Williams, and Ruth Arino Ruiz all scored in the third with the final goal coming with one tick remaining on the clock.
 
Santa Barbara took the early lead in the fourth quarter before Akritidou tied the game back up with just over a minute taken off the clock. The Gauchos built up a three-goal lead before Talia Habermann scored for the Lions with 1:27 remaining. Akritidou made it interesting with 33 seconds remaining, bringing the game to 12-11, but the Lions were unable to find the equalizer in the closing seconds.
UP NEXT:
LMU hosts UC Irvine in the home opener on Thursday.