Panthers roll past LMU club for fourth win in five games

ORANGE, Calif. – Behind a career-high 12 blocks from sophomore goalie Allison Smith and a season-high 19 goals, the Chapman University women's water polo team stifled the Loyola Marymount University club team 19-6 on Sunday afternoon at the Allred Aquatics Center. Today's game was the third career start for Smith who topped her previous career-high of 10 blocks. After losing five games in a row, the Panthers have now won four of their last five matches.

Up 1-0 in the first quarter, Chapman (7-11) scored three times over a two-minute stretch to take a 4-0 lead at the 3:04 mark, highlighted by a pair of goals from freshman driver Allison Friedman. The Panthers then took a 5-0 lead at the 6:29 mark of the second quarter on a goal from junior 2M Arielle Worthington.

LMU then answered with a pair of goals from Kayleigh Sobeski to narrow the score to 5-2 with 4:07 remaining in the half. Sobeski scored all six goals for LMU. The three-score margin was as close as LMU would get for the remainder of the game as Chapman closed out the half with a 5-1 run that gave them a 10-3 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Panthers outscored the Lions 9-3 as they would go on for the 19-6 victory. The 13-goal margin of victory is Chapman's largest since defeating Caltech 20-6 last March. Also, with seven wins, the Panthers have equaled their win total of a year ago.

Once again, the Panthers got balanced scoring as 14 different players scored at least one goal. The Panthers were led by juniors Stephanie Roy and Briana O'Keefe, sophomore Emma Carson, freshman Allison Harf and Friedman who each had two scores.

by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2010-11/files/lmu%28club%29-cu.pdf