Sept. 22, 2008

Los Angeles - For the second time this season and in his career, LMU junior goalkeeper Patrick Sampson has been named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week, gaining the award for September 15-21, the conference office announced Monday. Coupled with his honor from September 8, Sampson becomes the first WCC player to be twice honored this season and is the first LMU player to be twice honored in the same year since Arturo Torres did it three times in 2000.

Sampson (Lake Oswego, OR) kept the Lions within striking distance of two ranked squads over the weekend as he came within seven minutes of pitching two shutouts against #9 Northwestern and #11 Illinois-Chicago. On Friday at #9 Northwestern, Sampson kept the high-scoring Wildcats scoreless with three saves until Northwestern nipped the winner with seven minutes left in a 1-0 loss. On Sunday, he kept #11 UIC off the board for the entire 110 minutes in a 0-0 tie. LMU needed each of Sampson's career-high seven saves as UIC held a 15-5 shot advantage and LMU played a man down for the final 65 minutes but still came away with the tie. The shutout was Sampson's second of the season and he lowered his goals-against-average to 0.45. He leads or is tied for the lead in the WCC in GAA, shutouts, and saves per game (5.00). He is second in total saves with 20.

LMU (1-2-3) returns home for a single match this week, its first against a non-top-25 team. The Lions host Oregon State on Sunday at 2 p.m.

- GO LIONS -