SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No. 10 Pacific women's water polo team advanced to the finals of the Golden Coast Championship with a 3-2 win over No. 23 Loyola Marymount in the semifinals Saturday.
Mariana Duarte, Viktoria Szmodics and Rachel Krieger scored for Pacific, with Krieger's fourth quarter goal standing up as the game-winner.
Playing for the third time this season, both teams had each other's offenses well scouted and the result was the lowest scoring game in program history for the Tigers.
Pacific held LMU to just seven shots on target, and 2-of-26 shooting for the game (.077).
Alexis Hollinrake made five saves and recorded a career-best six steals in the cage.
The Tigers converted just three of 28 shots, but 14 were on target as Sky Flores recorded 11 saves for the Lions.
After a scoreless first half, Pacific finally got on the board with a 6-on-5 goal from Mariana Duarte in the third. Viktoria Tamas registered the assist on the opening goal with 6:14 to go in the third.
Viktoria Szmodics added a second goal, sneaking a shot in near side from four meters out for a 2-0 lead.
LMU finally broke Hollinrake's shutout streak at 23:05 with a goal from Katie Hungerford with 2:57 to go in the third.
In the fourth, Krieger finished with a spinning backhand from center for a 3-1 lead with 2:58 to go, off an entry pass from Karolina Hlavata.
LMU pulled within one on a 6-on-5 goal with 1:28 to go from Morgan Molloy. After the Tigers hit the post, Krieger was excluded with 50 seconds to go, but Tamas jumped the passing lane and intercepted a pass into the two-meter with 44 seconds left.
The Tigers spread the pool and ran the shot clock down, giving LMU just 14 seconds left for a final possession. The Tigers smothered Hungerford in the two-meter, and her last-second attempt was a lob off the crossbar. The Tigers corralled the rebound as the clock expired, sending the Tigers to the championship game for the second-straight year.
The game was the lowest scoring game in Pacific history by total goals for both teams (topping a 4-2 loss to LMU in 2002 and a 5-1 loss to Santa Clara in 2011). The game also set the Pacific record for fewest goals necessary to pick up a victory (topping a 4-3 win over Redlands in 1997).
It was the 20th time in program history the Tigers have held an opponent to two goals or less, but the average margin of victory in those previous 19 games was 11 goals.
The Tigers advance to Sunday's championship at 1:30 p.m. Pacific will face No. 14 San Diego State, who defeated Azusa Pacific in the second semifinal.
Pacific and SDSU have played two straight games decided by a single goal, with the Aztecs winning the regular season meeting this season and the GCC Final last year in sudden death overtime. Both those contests were in the Aztecs' home pool.
