LOS ANGELES – LMU men's water polo played two tough games on Saturday against a pair of higher-ranked opponents. The Lions opened the day with a 17-12 upset win over No. T-9 San Jose State and then held a lead against No. 13 UC Santa Barbara before the Gauchos pulled away, 13-10.
 
Game 1: #T-15 LMU 17, #T-9 San Jose State 12
 
Tommaso Baldineti opened the scoring with a 6-on-5 goal to give the Lions the early lead. After San Jose State tied the score, Jonny Rimlinger put the Lions back on top with his first of five goals on the day. The Spartans answered less than a minute later with an equalizer before Abel Romero Corbalan pushed the Lions back up by one with an even strengthened goal. San Jose State tied the score at 3-all with 36 seconds remaining, but the Lions once again provided a response. Baldineti gave LMU a 4-3 lead with five seconds remaining in the first with his 5-meter penalty goal.
 
The second quarter started with San Jose State tying the score for one final time before Baldineti gave the Lions the lead for good with 4:52 to play in the half. Augie Renezeder doubled the lead with his goal just past the three-minute mark with LMU playing with a man-advantage. The Spartans cut their deficit in half to keep it a one-goal game, 7-6, heading into halftime.
 
The Lions came out firing in the second half with the first three goals after intermission. Romero Corbalan started the scoring before Tyler Harvey scored twice in less than a two-minute span to give LMU a 10-6 advantage. Following a Spartans goal, Richie Rimlinger and Redezeder scored back-to-back goals to five the Lions their largest lead of the game at 12-7 with 1:44 showing on the clock. SJSU closed out the period with two goals over the final 1:15.
 
The Spartans scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter but could not tie the game back up. Jonny Rimlinger scored twice and Romero Corbalan added another to increase the lead back up to four, at 15-11. The Lions would end up scoring five of the final six goals of the game as both Stelios Dalmaras and Tyler Harvey scored in the closing seconds.
 
The Lions shot 54.8 percent and held San Jose State to 31.6 percent in the game.
 
Dalmaras made 12 saves for a 50 percent save percentage. In addition to his goal from the cage, Dalmaras also recorded two assists.
 
Game 2: #13 UC Santa Barbara 13, #T-15 LMU 10
 
The Lions jumped out from the start, scoring the game's first three goals. LMU's leading scorers Tomaso Baldineti and Abel Romero Corbalan pushed the Lions ahead 2-0 before Stelios Dalmaras shot a ball the length of the pool to beat the visiting goalkeeper and increase the lead to 3-0 with just over a minute showing in the first. UC Santa Barbara converted a penalty in the final minute to get on the board.
 
The first goal of the second quarter came at the 3:03 mark with Jonny Rimlinger converting on a 6-on-5 coming out of a timeout. After the Lions went up 4-1, the Gauchos closed out the half with three unanswered goals to even the score at 4-4 at the break.
 
Nick Leung capitalized with a powerplay goal less than a minute and a half into the third quarter to give LMU the lead back before UCSB took their first lead of the game with back-to-back goals. Jonny Rimlinger was quick to tie the score, but the Gauchos retook the lead on their ensuing possession and carried a 9-to-6 lead into the final period.
 
UCSB built a lead with two goals to open the quarter to push ahead, 11-6. Finn Friedland replaced Stelios Dalmaras in the net, allowing Dalmaras to play in the field. From that change
Abel Romero Corbalan and Augie Renezeder into the deficit with back-to-back goals. Jonny Rimlinger and Dalmaras each scored as well to cut the deficit to 12-10 before Santa Barbara scored in the closing minute.
 
Friedland made three saves over his 6:20 in the cage. Dalmaras played just north of 25 minutes and recorded two goals and four steals along with his 10 saves.
 
Up Next
LMU will leave home for the first time this season, traveling down to UC San Diego for a Wednesday night game under the lights.
 
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