LOS ANGELES – The #10 LMU men's water polo team won their West Coast Conference home opener on Friday under the lights after defeating Air Force, 21-16. The Lions were led by Abel Romero Corbalan who shot a perfect 6-for-6 in the win.
 
Bence Barics opened the game with an opening goal 1:05 into the game. After the conference's leading scorer Tom Leggett evented the score at 1-1, Alika Naone pushed LMU back ahead on the ensuing possession. Air Force would tie the game one last time before Josiah Yeager scored the go-ahead goal. Romero Corbalan scored twice in the last minute to give LMU a 5-2 advantage after the opening quarter.
 
Barics also scored the first goal of the second period. After the Falcons got one back, Romero Corbalan and Richie Rimlinger scored less than 30 seconds apart from one another, Leggett scored his third of the day for Air Force and the visitors added one more to bring the score to 8-5. Barics and Naone scored the next two for LMU before Air Force scored twice before halftime to bring the score to 10-7 at the break.
 
The Falcons pulled within one after scoring the first two goals of the second half. The Lions responded with the next three goals with two coming from freshman Mateo Obando and the other scored by Nico Furneaux. Air Force pulled back within two goals, 13-11, with two minutes to play in the quarter before Tommaso Baldineti closed out the period with three unanswered goals over just a minute of play.
 
The run extended as Romero Corbalan and Baldineti opened the fourth with back-to-back goals to extend LMU's lead to 18-11. The two teams traded off scoring the next seven goals with Josiah Yeager converting a penalty shot, Romero Corbalan scoring his sixth of the game, and Roman Saroyan pushing the total to 21. Leggett scored the final two goals of the game to bring his game total to seven.
 
Finn Friedland earned the win with seven saves, an assist, and a steal over his 32 minutes in the cage.
 
The Lions return to their home pool on Sunday for another conference matchup. LMU hosts Pacific at Burns Aquatic Center for a 1:00 battle.

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