RIVERSIDE, Calif. – LMU women's water polo earned an opening round win on Friday morning to kick off the Golden Coast Conference Championships. The #18 Lions advance to the GCC semifinals with the 9-4 victory over Santa Clara and are set for a rematch against either Concordia or #16 Pacific.
 
The Lions fell behind early but quickly erased the deficit with three goals in a row to take a 3-1 lead. Mollie Williams opened the scoring for LMU and Yanah Gerber and Marialena Seletopoulou followed with a pair of powerplay goals. The Broncos cut it to a one-goal game, before Alexandra Akritidou extended the lead to 4-2 with 36 seconds on the clock.
 
The first score change of the second period did not come for nearly four minutes until Alena Sanchez converted an even-strength goal at the 4:02 mark for the only goal of the period.
 
LMU kept Santa Clara from scoring in the third quarter as well as Seletopoulou, Ruth Arino Ruiz, and Isabella Barajas accounted for the lone goals of the period, pushing the lead to 8-2.
 
The Broncos added a pair of goals in the third quarter. Maddy Gault put the punctuation on the game with a goal in the closing minutes.
 
Madison Davis earned the win in the cage, making six saves 
 
The semifinals of the tournament will be played from Lancer Aquatic Center on Saturday at 2:00 PM.