SAN JOSE, Calif. – For the third consecutive day, LMU men's water polo allowed just three goals in the first half of their game which propelled the team to victory. On Sunday morning, in the final day of the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament, LMU defeated Bucknell, 23-10.
 
The Lions responded to an opening minute Bucknell goal with three consecutive goals of their own to take a 3-1 advantage. Jake Bonavia tied the game and then pushed LMU ahead before Alika Naone doubled the lead with 4:10 to play in the first quarter. After the Bison pulled back within one, Abel Romero Corbalan and Richie Rimlinger gave LMU two more goals to push the lead to 5-2.
 
The first four second quarter goals went in favor of the Lions as Tommaso Baldineti, Bence Barics, Naone, and Nico Furneaux all found the back of the cage to build a 9-2 advantage. LMU took a 9-3 lead into intermission.
 
Baldineti, Naone, and Mateo Obando opened the second half with goals to extend the lead to 12-3. Following back-to-back goals from Bucknell, the two teams traded off scoring the next six goals of the third quarter. Roman Saroyan, Johnny Mendiburu, and Caden Carpenter each scored their only goals of the game to give LMU a 15-8 lead after 24 minutes. 
 
The lead grew to 11 after Jaxon Hoover, Furneaux, Barics, and Nick Leung started the fourth with four consecutive goals. Bucknell added one back before Leung game LMU their 20^th goal of the game. The Bison scored one final goal before Furneaux and Bonavia each completed their hat tricks with goals in the final three minutes.
 
Finn Friedland made eight saves in 16 first half minutes for a 72.7 save percent. Roberto Barerra Sanchez played the second half and added three saves of his own.
 
The Lions return to Burns Aquatics Center for two home games over the next week. The Lions will host CBU in a conference game on Thursday night under the lights before welcoming Concordia to campus on Saturday afternoon.
 
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