MALIBU, Calif. – The West Coast Conference Tournament continues for No. 12 LMU men's water polo as the Lions defeated Air Force in the opening round game on Friday morning. The Lions scored seven of the game's first eight goals before ultimately defeating the Falcons, 15-11.
 
Air Force led for less than a minute of play in the game after their All-WCC player Tom Leggett scored the day's opening goal. The Lions then responded with the next seven goals by seven different players to completely shift the feel of the game. Abel Romero Corbalan started the run before goals followed from Richie Rimlinger, Rafael Salonikios, Tyler Harvey, Max Walsworth, Jonny RImlinger, and Andrew Vernon. Leggett added a second goal for the Falcons with 44 seconds showing in the period and Tommaso Baldineti made it an 8-2 game with half a minute remaining.
 
The two sides traded off scoring in the second period. A penalty shot by Baldineti started the action. After the Air Force response, Augie Renezeder beat the goalkeeper just before the midway point of the quarter. The Falcons answered again but a penalty save by Stelios Dalmaras limited the damage. Kade Margain scored in the closing minutes and the Falcons added one just before halftime to  bring the LMU lead to 11-5.
 
The first two goals after intermission went in Air Force's favor before the trio of Romero Corbalan, Walsworth, and Renezeder built the lead back up to 15-7. 
 
A penalty shot  by the Falcons opened the scoring in the fourth quarter. Air Force scored all four fourth quarter goals, but the LMU lead was too large.
 
Dalmaras broke his career-high with 22 saves and added three assists and a steal.
 
With the win, the second-seeded Lions advance to Saturday's semi-finals. LMU will have a rematch set at 11:00 a.m. against San Jose State. LMU beat the Spartans twice this season, once in September and once earlier this month.
 
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