LOS ANGELES – The third time is the charm as #14 LMU Men's Water Polo used home pool advantage to defeat #10 UC San Diego for the first time this season. The Lions scored 18 on the Tritons to earn a four-goal win behind 10 from Abel Romero Corbalan.
 
LMU started fast in front of their home crowd, scoring the first five goals of the game. Tommaso Baldineti and Abel Romero Corbalan each accounted for two before Soren Martin made it a 5-0 game. UCSD earned two goals back to pull within three after the first period.
 
After the Tritons started the second quarter with a goal before Romero Corbalan secured his hat trick less than nine minutes into the game. UCSD scored twice within the next minute to cut the deficit to one. Romero Corbalan doubled the lead with his fourth goal of the game. UC San Diego responded on their ensuing possession with a powerplay goal before Alika Noane scored the same way for the Lions. Romero Corbalan scored again just before the two minute mark to bring his first half total to five goals. After the Tritons scored with 1:08 on the clock, Naone capitalized on a 6-on-5 with eight seconds before the half to take a 10-7 lead at intermission.
 
The lead grew to 11-7 as Jaxon Hoover started the second half with a goal. UCSD's Eamon Hennessey and LMU's Romero Corbalan traded off scoring the next six goals to bring it to a 14-10 game. The Tritons scored with 1:02 left in the period and again LMU had a late response as Baldineti scored with 16 seconds remaining.
 
The first two goals of the second quarter went to the Tritons to cut their deficit in half. Romero Corbalan provided an answer scoring the next two goals at the 4:15 and 1:16 marks. Alika Naone added his third of the game with less than a minute to play. A final possession UCSD goal brought the final score to 18-14.
 
Finn Friedland played all 32 minutes in the cage and totaled 15 saves, two assists, and a steal.
The season continues on Thursday at Long Beach State before LMU hosts UC Irvine on Saturday for the final game of the regular season.
 
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