Nov. 18, 2001

Los Angeles, CA -- The final round of the Western Water Polo Association men's water polo championships wrapped up Sunday afternoon at LMU's Burns Recreation Center Pool as Loyola Marymount defeated UC San Diego 4-2 in the championship game. LMU's goalie Kevin Paulsen was voted conference MVP and Lions' head coach John Loughran was named WWPA Coach of the Year.

In the Championship game the Lions and the Tritons battled out a defensive first-half to go into the halftime break without a score. LMU's goalie Paulsen recorded nine saves in the first two periods, as Lance Onken took six of his own saves.

Kris Barr put the Lions on the board first with his goal at 5:42 in the third quarter. Jonathan Hopkins answered back for the Tritons to tie the game at 1-1 with his goal not more than 20 seconds later. The Tritons were at a man advantage as Tamas Szego was called for an ejection with 1:24 remaining in the period. Vladimir Djaipic put the Tritons up to 2-1 with the advantage to take the third-quarter lead.

With 3:43 left in the game Stephen Lipinski answered back for the Lions as he took the ball from Kris Barr for the 2-2 tying goal. The game was all Lions from then on as Kevin Witt scored the game-winning goal at 1:51 in the game to go up 3-2, then scored an insurance goal for the Lions with just over one minute left in the competition to send the Lions to the NCAA Final Four. Paulsen finished the game with 13 saves, allowing only two goals, efforts for which he was named WWPA Most Valuable Player. Lance Onken recorded seven saves for the Tritons, allowing four goals on the match. UC San Diego finished the championships with a second-place finish.

In the game for third place Redlands defeated Air Force 5-4 in an equally exciting match to take third place in the WWPA. With no score on the board after the first quarter, Air Force took the 1-0 lead with Brian Hasbrouck's goal. Redlands answered back as Adam Foley scored to tie the game at 1-1. Chris Smith scored again to put the Falcons up 2-1 heading into halftime. Charles Horn scored two goals for the Falcons in the third quarter, as Kevin Rosa and James Graham answered back to bring the game within one score. Redlands held the Falcons scoreless in the fourth quarter to take the 5-4 lead and win as Oliver Horrigan and Spencer Dinnean scored their goals. Brandon Shroyer posted nine saves for the Falcons, allowing five goals. Tyler Newgren collected five saves for the Bulldogs, allowing four goals.

In the game for the 5th-place finish UC Davis defeated the University of La Verne 5-3. The Leopards took the early 1-0 lead in the first quarter as Stephan Smith put them on the board with his only goal of the game. The Aggies came back in the second quarter to take the 2-1 lead as Tim Rogers and Brook Rogers each made their shot attempts. Smith scored again for the Leopards in the third quarter, however his goal was answered back by both George Dingeldein and T. Rogers to end the third quarter with the 4-3 Aggies' lead. UC Davis secured their victory in the fourth quarter as Brian Combs scored his solo goal with one second left on the clock. John Steifeling defended the Leopards' cage where he collected 12 saves, allowing five goals. Travis Engleman defended the net for the Aggies where he collected 16 saves and allowed three goals.

And in the first game of the day, Santa Clara defeated UC Santa Cruz 10-9 to finish 7th in the WWPA. Each team matched the other's score goal-for-goal from the 2-2 tie in the first period. Santa Clara pulled away in the last three minutes of play with Mark Perlite scored the 9-8 goal. Jay Moorhead added to Perlite's lead to put the Broncos up 10-8. Mike Webb tried to bring the Banana Slugs back into the game with his goal with 12 seconds remaining in the game. Santa Clara was declared the victors as time ran down. Moorhead led the Broncos with two goals. Ryan McGrarry was at the helm of the Banana Slugs' offense with his three goals on the match. Matt Smith posted nine saves for the Slugs, allowing 10 goals. Peter Moore collected seven saves for the Broncos, allowing nine goals against the Slugs.

Scoring Summaries For Day 3:

7th Place
Game 1 2 3 4 F
UCSC 2 2 3 2 9
Santa Clara 3 1 3 3 10,br> UCSC: Webb (3), A. Smith, Nelson, Mulligan, Vienna, Eakes, Yoshida
Santa Clara: Moorhead (2), Figoni (2), Flannagan (2), Allison, Takahashi, O'Connell, Gee

5th Place
Game 1 2 3 4 F
La Verne 1 0 2 0 3
UC Davis 0 2 2 1 5
La Verne: S. Smith (2), La
UC Davis: T. Rogers (2), Dingeldein, Combs, B. Rogers.

3rd Place
Game 1 2 3 4 F
Air Force 0 2 2 0 4
Redlands 0 1 2 2 5
Air Force: Horn (2), Hasbrouck, Smith.
Redlands: Horrigan, Rosa, Graham, Foley, Dinnean

Championship
Game 1 2 3 4 F
UCSD 0 0 2 0 2
LMU 0 0 1 3 4
UC San Diego: Djiapic, Hopkins
LMU: Ke. Witt (2), Lipinski, Barr