IRVINE, Calif. – LMU women's water polo defeated a pair of high ranked programs on Saturday in the second day of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational. The #T-23 Lions opened the day with a 12-11 win over #11 Indiana before topping #21 San Diego State, 17-8, in the afternoon game.
Game 1: #T-23 LMU 12, #11 Indiana 11
LMU jumped out to a 2-0 lead as
Ruth Arino Ruiz and
Mollie Williams each scored for the Lions. After the Hoosiers got on the board,
Marialena Seletopoulou responded with a goal on the ensuing offensive possession. The Lions took a 4-2 lead at the end of the period as Arino Ruiz scored with just nine seconds remaining.
Indiana tied the game at 4-all to open the second quarter before Arino Ruiz scored to put the Lions back on top just past the midway point. After IU tied the score at 5-5,
Mei Vilanova scored to give LMU a 6-5 advantage heading into halftime.
The third quarter started with another tie less than two minutes into the half. Seletopoulou pushed the Lions back on top by two with back-to-back goals, but the Hoosiers were quick to respond with two of their own.
Yanah Gerber scored the last goal of the period to give LMU a 9-8 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.
Williams scored against her old team to open the fourth, but Indiana again had an answer, scoring the next three goals to take their first lead of the game with less than five minutes to play. Seletopoulou evened the score with an even-strength goal and Williams followed with the go-ahead score with 2:46 remaining. LMU held off a late equalizer to secure the win.
Game 2: #T-23 LMU 17, #21 San Diego State 8
The Lions scored the game's opening three goals as
Ruth Arino Ruiz,
Marialena Seletopoulou, and
Yanah Gerber gave LMU a 3-0 lead two and a half minutes into play. The Aztecs scored their first goal on the ensuing possession.
Anna Tarantino scored a powerplay goal with 1:39 on the clock to give the three-goal lead back to LMU. Each team added one more goal in the quarter as SDSU scored with 1:25 on the clock and
Mollie Williams scored with 25 seconds showing.
After San Diego State scored the first goal of the second quarter, Williams pushed it back to a three-goal advantage for the Lions and Seletopoulou followed to push LMU ahead, 7-3, on her penalty shot. The lead grew to as large as five goals in the opening half as Williams and
Isabella Barajas scored goals late in the period. LMU took a 9-5 lead into intermission.
The Lions built on that lead with the first three goals of the second half. Alexadnra Akritidou, Arino Ruiz, and Tarantino pushed LMU ahead, 12-5, with 3:22 in the period. SDSU converted a penalty shot to stop the run, but LMU got it right back on the next offensive possession with a goal from Gerber.
LMU scored four of the first five goals of the final period to build up a double-digit lead for the first time all tournament.
Maddy Gault scored the first goal of the quarter around the four -minute mark. After the Aztecs scored a goal of their own, Tarantino added one and
Risse Sanchez added two to push it to a 17-7 game. San Diego State scored in the final minute.
Madison Davis recorded eight saves in the win.
Up Next: #T-23 LMU vs. #17 UC Davis
The Lions will compete against UC Davis in the ninth-place game at 11:30 AM from the Corona del Mar HS pool. The game is the third game scheduled for that site and is scheduled to begin at 11:30 AM.
