IRVINE, Calif. – LMU women's water polo had two games decided by a total of three goals on Saturday. In the second day of the 2022 Barbara Kalbus Invitational, the Lions lost in overtime to Indiana before bouncing back to defeat Pomona-Pitzer.
Game 1: #17 Indiana 16, #18 LMU 15 (OT)
LMU took the lead on four different occasions in the first quarter on Saturday.
Mollie Williams scored first, Ruth Arena Ruiz made it 2-1,
Kelsey Snelgar's goal pushed the score to 3-2, and
Alena Sanchez put the Lions ahead 4-3.
Indiana scored the first two goals of the second quarter to take their first lead of the game before
Yanah Gerber tied the game at 5-all. After IU scored again,
Marialena Seletopoulou, Williams, Snelgar, and
Alexandra Akritidou scored four consecutive goals to give the Lions a 9-6 halftime lead.
The lead grew to 11-6 as
Alena Sanchez scored the first two goals of the third quarter. After Indiana got two back, Seletopoulou extended LMU's lead to 12-8. The Lions took a 12-9 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Hoosiers scored the first three goals of the final period to tie the game before Gerber scored a go-ahead goal with 3:48 on the clock. Indiana evened the score before
Mei Vilanova pushed LMU ahead by one at the three-minute mark. After the Lions fell behind, Seletopoulou score with five seconds left in regulation to tie game at 15-15 and force overtime.
The only goal of the extra session came at the one-minute mark of the fifth period.
Madison Davis made three saves in her 38 minutes in the cage.
Game 2: #18 LMU 12, #22 Pomona-Pitzer 10
The Lions fell behind 2-0 before
Tara DeBrabander scored the next two tie the score in the first. The Sagehens scored the next three goals of the period to take a 5-2 lead.
Pomona-Pitzer expanded their lead to 6-2 before
Marialena Seletopoulou converted a powerplay goal. The Lions trailed 8-3 when Seletopoulou closed out the half with a second goal.
The second half was all LMU as the Lions outscored the Sagehens 8-2 over the final 16 minutes.
Yanah Gerber,
Kelsey Snelgar, and
Mollie Williams cut into the deficit, but P-P scored one back. Gerber scored with less than a minute remaining to make it a one-goal game heading into the fourth.
Snelgar, Gerber, and
Mikayla Lopez put LMU on top to open the fourth with three consecutive goals. Pomona-Pitzer scored once more before
Ruth Arino Ruiz closed out the game to give the Lions the 12-10 win.
Up Next
LMU will close out the 2022 Barbara Kalbus Invitational on Sunday morning against #21 San Diego State. The Lions will take on the Aztecs at 8:00 am from UC Irvine's Anteater Aquatics Complex
