LOS ANGELES – In a Friday night thriller, the resilient Anteaters fought through a deficit and mounted a comeback to walk-off the game, 12-11, as the clock rang out against No. 15/15 LMU.
 
No. 8/8 UC Irvine found themselves down by as much as six points, 9-3 in the second, but battled back with a nine goal second half including six in the final period to earn the win.
 
Luka Krstic and Johann Thrall both notched hat-tricks in the contest and were the only two Anteaters who recorded multiple scores.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Samuel Otta, Cole Francisco, Ethan Shipman, Jackson Matos, Stewart Campbell, and Gage Verdegaal contributed to the scoring
• Jacob Pyle played all 32 minutes in the cage where he recorded eight saves
• Krstic dished out a game high four assists to finish with seven points
• Pyle and Francisco each tallied a team high three steals
• Freshman Ethan Spoon was integral on offensive, drawing five exclusions that led to scoring opportunities
• No. 15/15 LMU was led by Tommaso Baldineti who recorded four goals and two assists

 
SCORING BREAKDOWN

• First period: Each side answered the call in response to a score. Ethan Shipman recorded the first Anteater score at 6:16 with his catch and shoot off the pass from Luka Krstic. To knot the game 2-all, Johann Thrall (1:52) juked out three defenders to get the ball in the back of the net. With less than a minute left, No. 15/15 LMU was left alone inside to take the slight 3-2 advantage.
  • Shipman (1) and Thrall (1)
• Second period: The Lions caught on fire as they buried four unanswered in the goal. On the reset, No. 8/8 UC Irvine scored a much-needed goal at 0:56 on the long-range shot from Samuel Otta as the Anteaters trail, 7-3.
  • Otta (1)
• Third period: Two more scores from LMU increased their advantage, but the Anteaters caught momentum to bring the game within three. After UCI drew two exclusions in the same possession, Stewart Campbell (4:03) received the ball from Cole Francisco atop the formation. The Anteaters collected the rebound off the shot which allowed Thrall (1:47) to bounce the ball off the water and then on the next possession, Krstic (1:20) swam the distance of the pool after a Lion turnover for the score to close the scoring, 9-6.
  • Campbell (1), Krstic (1), and Thrall (1)
• Fourth period: UCI's power shone through in the fourth as they scored a dominant six goals. LMU increased the margin to four, 10-6, at 7:07, but that didn't threaten the 'Eaters. With their backs against the wall, UC Irvine went on a powerful five goal run that saw scores from Krstic (5:54, 5:09), Gage Verdegaal (4:19), Thrall (1:04), and Jackson Matos (0:43) for their first lead of the game, 11-10. It looked like the game was heading into overtime as the Lions found the back of the cage at 0:17, but a LMU exclusion allowed Cole Francisco to call game as the ball hit the upper right corner of the goal as the clock expired, 12-11.
  • Krstic (2), Matos (1), Thrall (1), and Verdegaal (1)

 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters will face a top-10 opponent in No. 5/5 Pacific (1 p.m.) and then No. 20/20 California Baptist in the night cap to close out the Big West-WCC Clash.