DAVIS, Calif. — No. 10 LMU lost to No. 10 UC Davis 16-11 on Sunday in their West Coast Conference regular season finale. It was a game for all the marbles, with both teams coming in undefeated in WCC play. Whoever won would come away with the WCC regular season title, and the Lions fell just short.
The Lions answered each UC Davis goal in a back and forth first quarter, with
Eduardo Carraresi scoring at 3:45 off
Luka Dimic's assist,
Johnny Mendiburu at 1:43 off
Roman Saroyan's feed and
Nico Furneaux at :35 off Carraresi's assist. UC Davis changed the pattern in the second quarter, scoring five consecutive goals from Lucas Wulfhorst's strike at 5:51 through Oleg Shatskikh's goal at 2:32, then adding Austin Quick's goal at 7:33 of the third quarter.
Nick Leung gave LMU life in the third-quarter with back-to-back goals at 7:01 and 5:55, and
Jaxon Hoover scored at 2:55 before
Gabrijel Burburan closed the quarter's scoring for LMU at :54. In the fourth quarter, the Lions continued to trade goals with UC Davis as Burburan scored at 6:20,
Asher Smith at 5:12, Burburan on a power play at 3:02 and Carraresi at :43. UC Davis finished with 16 goals on 31 shots, including two power-play goals and a penalty-shot goal, while LMU had 11 goals on 25 shots with one power-play goal.
Burburan scored a team-high three goals and added two steals. Carraresi finished with two goals and a team-high three assists. Leung scored twice on two shots and recorded two steals and a field block.
Pablo De Souza made nine saves in goal.
LMU is 16-8 overall and finishes 6-1 in WCC play for second place in the conference. UC Davis finishes 17-8 overall and 7-0 in WCC play and will be the one seed in the conference tournament.
Up next, the Lions host Long Beach State on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at Burns Center for their senior night.
