Sept. 10, 2001

Stats

San Diego, CA (Sept. 9) - The Loyola Marymount men's water polo team, ranked 11th in the country, started their 2001 campaign with an impressive 3-1 showing at the UC San Diego Invitational held on Sept. 8-9. The Lions' were paced by a trio of sophomores and a freshman in the opening weekend.

Freshman Stephen Lipinski had one of the best starts to a college career in LMU history, posting a 15-goal weekend, including a record seven-goal performance in a win over Whittier. The Lions earned opening day victories over Santa Clara (11-4) and Whittier (17-7). On the second day, the Lions started with a 13-6 win over Air Force and then fell to UC San Diego in the championship game, 6-5.

The championship game was one of the best contests of the tournament as both teams traded goals throughout the contest. The Lions, however, trailed 3-2 at the half but tied the game thanks to a pair of goals by sophomore Tamas Szego. UC San Diego would score the game winner in the final quarter, giving the Lions their only loss of the tournament.

In the contest against Air Force to set-up the championship game, Lipinski once again led the Lions with four goals. Sophomore transfer Adam Zintsmaster added three, while fellow sophomore Kris Barr added a pair. While Lipinski's 15 goals lead the Lions, he is followed by Barr's nine, Szego's seven and Zintsmaster's five.

On opening day the Lions started their season with a five-goal performace from Barr in the win over Santa Clara. Lipinski would add three in his college debut.

The victory over the Broncos set-up one of the best individual performances in LMU men's water polo history. Lipinski's outburst led a six-goal second period to put the game out of reach.His goal total equaled Whittier's as a team.