STOCKTON, Calif. – LMU men's water polo played Pepperdine tough for the third time this season, but were again unable to come out on top. After LMU held a four-goal lead earlier in the game, Lions and Waves were tied in the fourth quarter, before Pepperdine ultimately pulled away to win 19-15 in the opening round game of the WCC Championships.
 
Richie Rimlinger converted a powerplay on LMU's opening possession to give the Lions a quick lead. After Pepperdine tied the score a minute and a half later Abel Romero Corbalan scored twice and Roman Saroyan added one of his own to push the seventh-seeded Lions ahead 4-1 with 3:12 to play in the first. The Waves scored the next two to bring it to a one-goal game before Johnny Mendiburu doubled the lead with 29 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
 
Romero Corbalan started with the second quarter with back-to-back goals to extend LMU's advantage to 7-3 within the first two minutes of the quarter. The two sides traded off scoring the next four goals as Pepperdine scored, followed by a Josiah Yeager powerplay conversion, then another Waves goal, and ending with a made penalty from Romero Corbalan to make it a 9-5 game with just over four minutes to play. Pepperdine closed out the half with three of the final four goals, with only Nick Leung's shot at full strength beating the Pepperdine goalkeeper. The Lions held a 10-8 advantage at the break.

The Waves tied the score with the first two goals of the third quarter before Yeager broke the tie and pushed the Lions back ahead, 11-10, and Romero Corbalan scored his sixth of the day to give LMU a 12-10 lead. Pepperdine scored two unanswered goals to even the score at 12-12.
 
Pepperdine struck first in the opening possession of fourth, but Saroyan was quick to tie it at 13-all for the Lions. The Waves rolled the next five goals before goalkeeper Stelios Dalmaras put an end to the run with his goal at the 1:35 mark of the fourth. Ryan Boschken added a late goal for the Lions.
 
Dalmaras made eight saves in his 32 minutes in the cage.
 
The loss ends the season for the Lions who entered the WCC Championships as the seventh seed in the conference and ranked 19^th nationally.
 
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