This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. Ray works in the LMU Sports Media department, is a leader of the ROAR Student Section, is a former sports writer at The Los Angeles Loyolan, and is a member of The Crimson Circle service organization. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics will be posted here every Tuesday allowing for a quick glance at the week that was in Lion Sports.

With baseball and golf beginning play last week, spring sports are now in full swing and hoping to provide some Lion success as the basketball teams continue to struggle towards the end of the winter season.

The baseball team started their season at home over the weekend with a series against the visiting Utah Utes. After a sloppy Friday game left LMU with a 6-3 loss, the Lions then turned the series around with stellar pitching. The Lions won 1-0 on Saturday and 11-2 on Sunday to take the series and advance to 2-1.

The golf team had its first tournament of the spring last week at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. The tough course conditions left the Lions scrambling all week, which resulted in a tenth place finish out of 12 teams. Now, LMU is currently playing in the Folino Invite at Industry Hills Golf Club in Industry Hills, Calif., which will finish play later this week.

After a strong 3-1 start, the women's tennis team hit a bump last weekend in Santa Barbara. A long match with UCSB brought play into dusk and with no lights on the court, two of the singles matches had to be decided by quick tiebreakers rather than a third set, which led to a heartbreaking 4-3 loss for the Lions. LMU was then defeated again the next day 6-1 by the University of Colorado.

LMU track and field competed at the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers meet over the weekend. The highlight of the meet for the Lions was junior Kevin Joerger winning the 3000-meter race. Many other lions set personal records at the meet as well.

The men's basketball team went 0-2 on the weekend yet again, extending their losing streak to ten games and dropping them to 1-12 in WCC play. At Pepperdine on Thursday, it looked as if the Lions were finally going to get a win but a pair of missed free throws by the Lions and a basket by the Waves in the final minute gave Pepperdine the 52-50 win. At home against Saint Mary's on Saturday, the Gaels roster was just too big and too deep to handle, defeating the Lions 61-50 in front of the parents' weekend crowd.

The women's basketball team only had one game last week, which was a home loss against San Diego on Thursday. The 66-59 defeat was close, but LMU trailed the entire game. The loss dropped the Lions to 3-9 and seventh place in the conference.

Swimming, women's water polo, softball, and men's tennis were off last week but will return to play next weekend.

This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance for the week that was in Lion Sports. 

The open to the 2012-13 LMU men's basketball season comes at a perfect time tomorrow with midterms mostly finished and the student body at the peak of their excitement in between two Halloween weekends. But let's talk about what has already happened in the wide world of LMU sports.

Lion water polo got back on track this week when the 11^th ranked men's team won both of its WWPA matches to improve to 9-2 in conference play. Friday, LMU scored the game-winning goal with nine seconds left to beat #16 UC Davis on the road. Saturday, the Lions won again on the road when they took down #19 Santa Clara 12-7.

Volleyball had a strong week as well, which began Thursday in Malibu when they took #23 Pepperdine to a fifth set before losing a close one. Pepperdine needed 32 points to win the first set and 28 to win the second set before LMU took back the third and fourth sets, which led to a close loss in the final deciding set. At home Saturday, the Lions took care of business against Gonzaga when they won 3-0 in a quick and efficient sweep.

After a strong season of races, the Lion cross country teams both took 5^th place at the WCC Championship meet in Portland, Ore. Leading the men was junior Weston Strum who finished seventh overall while the women's race saw senior Sharee Shea take third overall. The Lions will compete at the NCAA West Regionals in Seattle starting on November 9.

Men's soccer had their bye week the previous week and after 12 days without a match, the team came out slow on the road against WCC leader San Diego when they fell 2-0 on Wednesday. Sunday, the Lions ended a four-match losing streak when they drew a tie against San Francisco at home. This gave the Lions their fifth point and keeps them at sixth place in the conference.

The women's soccer team also saw a streak end but unfortunately this was not a good thing. After winning three games in a row, the Lions had a tough stay in the Northwest, losing to Gonzaga 2-0 on Friday and losing to Portland 2-0 on Sunday. Remaining with nine points, the women are now tied for fifth place in the WCC.

Continuing its start to the season, the swim team had another strong showing at the Malibu Invitational over the weekend. The LMU women won two of the three distance events and won 11 out of the 14 sprint and mid-distance events.

The LMU men's golf team wrapped up their fall season last week at the Bill Cullum Invitational at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif. After three rounds of play, the Lions finished the tournament in ninth place.

This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance for the week that was in Lion Sports. 

Friday, one of the biggest nights every year in Lion Athletics occurred when LMU held its annual Madness at Midnight event. The night got fans excited for the upcoming basketball season, introducing everyone to the players of both the men's and women's teams. Players from both teams competed in a free throw contest, a three-point contest, as well as a dunk contest for some of the men. Along with showcasing the basketball talent, Madness was also an opportunity for the student body to see all of the school's Division I sports teams on display through dance competitions, which the softball team won. The night included food trucks and giveaways for students as well.

The women's soccer team had a huge weekend, earning six points through two conference victories. On Friday in Malibu, LMU destroyed then ranked #15 Pepperdine 3-0 getting all three goals in the first eleven minutes of play. Then at home Sunday, the Lions defeated San Francisco 1-0 after scoring 11 seconds into the first overtime period.

LMU Volleyball had an impressive weekend, also getting two much-needed wins. In the Northwest for the weekend, the Lions improved to 5-1 on the road this season as they swept Gonzaga Thursday and beat Portland in straight sets as well on Saturday.

An injury-filled men's water polo team continued to sink over the weekend, losing to two conference rivals. The #9 Lions had been on a roll with a seven-game winning streak before a series of setbacks led the Lions to drop matches to #1 USC a week ago and to #10 Long Beach St. and to #11 UC San Diego over the weekend.

In the final race before the WCC Championships, the men's and women's cross country teams sent four runners a piece to tune up at the Titan Invitational in Fullerton. The Lions did not have enough runners for the teams to place but will be in full force at the conference championship meet in Portland next weekend.

The men's tennis team competed at the ITA Regional tournament in Irvine over the weekend. Four Lions competed in singles and doubles events with the #7 seeded duo of Nicholas Bjerke and Sebastian Bustamante still alive in the doubles semifinals. In singles, Bjerke also advanced to the round of 16.

The women's tennis team was in San Diego for their ITA Regional tournament. April Bisharat and Reka Rohonyl both advanced to the round of 32 in singles competition while Kristine Kouyoumjian made it to the semifinals in the consolation bracket before the final two rounds were rained out.

The men's golf team went abroad last week for the Cabo Collegiate tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. What was meant to be a three round event turned into only 18 holes of competition as day two could not be finished and day three never began due to rainy conditions. Tyler Torano's 72 was good for a tie for second place in the tournament with his back nine score of 33 good for the best nine-hole score in the event. The team finished in ninth place. 

This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance for the week that was in Lion Sports.

It was another full weekend in the pool for the men's water polo team as the 10th-ranked Lions competed at the SoCal Tournament in Santa Barbara. On the first day, LMU fell to #7 Pepperdine before defeating #17 Santa Clara. This Saturday split led to games against #11 UC San Diego and #9 Long Beach St. on Sunday, two teams that had beaten the Lions earlier in the year. Despite this, LMU took down both opponents, earning a ninth place finish and improving to a 5-1 record in the WWPA.

The volleyball team continued to look sharp this weekend, but were unable to finish against conference rival and 16th-ranked San Diego Thursday. The Lions, who have beaten some top tier teams this season, took their confidence into the home match against the Toreros. LMU won the first set and looked as strong as ever. In the second and third sets, LMU had late leads but could not finish as San Diego went to 27 and 28 points respectively in order to win. San Diego finished it out in the fourth, making it a 1-3 loss for the Lions. Saturday, the Lions took care of business quickly, defeating CSU Bakersfield in straight sets. They are 9-6 overall and 1-2 in conference.

LMU women's soccer got back on track Sunday, earning their first victory in three weeks. The 3-2 win over Utah Valley improved the team's record to 6-3-2 overall. The strong preseason has the Lions feeling confident as they head into WCC play this weekend when they play San Diego at home this Sunday.

The men's soccer team opened up conference play on the road over the weekend. The trip started off strong as the Lions had the lead for most of the game on Friday at St. Mary's, the reigning WCC champions. However, a late goal led to an ending result of a 2-2 tie, giving the Lions one point. Sunday, LMU lost 1-0 to Santa Clara, sending the Lions to a 0-1-1 conference mark.

In their second tournament of the fall, the LMU golf team played at the Saint Mary's Invitational at the Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, California. As one of the toughest courses the team will play all season, the Lions struggled on both days, finishing in 11th place out of 15 teams.

Both cross country teams competed in the Stanford Invitational Saturday. In races that featured many conference opponents, the women finished sixth out of 29 teams and first among WCC teams. The men also ran well, finishing seventh out of 29 teams and second among WCC opponents.

This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance for the week that was in Lion Sports.

Starting on the home front, the men's soccer team lost a tough battle with No. 7 UCLA. Despite the strong defensive showing, one goal was all the visiting Bruins needed as they earned the 1-0 victory and sent the Lions to 1-4-1 on the year.

Four men's tennis players competed at the Costa Mesa Pro Classic over the weekend. Sophomore Todd Volmari and junior Daniel Simko were bounced in the first round, while sophomores Felix van Kann and Othar Kordsachia advanced to the second round of qualifying play but no further.

At the NorCal Invitational hosted by Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., the men's water polo team played four ranked teams in less than 48 hours. They had close losses to No. 7 Pacific and No. 9 Long Beach State, but pulled out wins against No. 18 Concordia and No. 11 UC San Diego. The tournament split gave the Lions a 10^th-place finish.

Both LMU cross country teams competed at a conference preview race at Fernhill Park in Portland, Ore. The women ran to a second-place finish while the men finished fourth at the site that will hold the WCC Championships at the end of the season. Senior Sheree Shea finished with the fastest time among WCC female runners.

The women's soccer team visited Tucson, Ariz. this weekend for the Arizona Cats Classic. After a rough 3-0 loss to Arizona State, the Lions slightly salvaged the trip with a 0-0 tie against the University of Arizona, continuing to show they can play with anyone and advancing to 5-3-1 for the season.

The volleyball team kept their strong season going this weekend at the Golden Dome Invitational at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. The Lions dropped a close match to the University of Kansas before defeating Xavier and the hosting Fighting Irish for a 2-1 finish that was good for second place.

The golf team opened their season at The McLaughlin tournament hosted by St. John's at Bethpage Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York. After three days of play at the Red Course, the Lions finished tied for eighth out of the 16-team field. Senior Bryan Bergna placed tied for fourth after repeatedly shooting under par.