Sept. 8, 2005
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Just Briefly
After splitting the opening weekend of play at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational, the ninth-ranked Loyola Marymount men's water polo team will return to Los Angeles for their home opener at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The Lions will take on Santa Clara this Friday, Sept. 9 at 3:00 p.m. The Lions will also play fifth-ranked Pepperdine for the second time in a week when they travel to Malibu on Saturday, Sept. 10. Game time at Pepperdine is 12:00 noon.
Coming Up
The Lions will play a pair of games against a couple of "West Coast Conference" rivals. Both Pepperdine and Santa Clara also compete against the Lions in the WCC in 12 sports other than water polo. The Lions will open play at home with the Broncos on Friday. It will be the 20th meeting in water polo between the two programs. The Lions hold a 13-6 edge in the series, winning the last six meetings. The Lions defeated the Broncos 8-6 at the Burns Center on Sept. 10, 2004. It was the closest meeting between the teams during the winning streak as the Lions have won the games by an average of 9.3 goals. As for the game against the Waves, it will be the 15th meetings between the long-time rivals. The Waves won the first seven meetings of the series but have managed to win just four of the last eight to hold an 12-3 edge. The Lions have won two of the last four meetings with four of the last eight decided by one goal. The two meet last weekend in the semifinals of the Triton Invitational, with Pepperdine earning a 10-4 win.
Last Week
The Lions opened the 2005 season with a 7-5 win over No. 11 UC Santa Barbara and then followed with a 15-8 win over Pomona-Pitzer to start the UC San Diego Triton Invitational. The two wins put the Lions into the championship bracket on Sunday, where they dropped a pair to top-10 teams. They fell to No. 6 Pepperdine 10-4 in the semifinals and then 5-4 in a heartbreaker to No. 7 UC Irvine. Junior Cutberto Hernandez led all scorers with seven on the weekend, scoring a two in every game except UC Irvine. Senior Endre Rex-Kiss scored six while Brian McShane added five, including three in the win over UC Santa Barbara. Ian Elliott made 14 saves in the game against UC Irvine.
Explosion
Loyola Marymount men's water polo junior Endre Rex-Kiss was named second-team All-American by the American Water Polo Coaches Association in 2004, the second straight season Rex-Kiss has earned All-American honors. The fourth-year player finished the 2004 season with 83 goals, the first player to have more than 70 in the non-two goal era. He had a record-breaking season and was named WWPA Player of the Year. With six goals to start the 2005 season, Rex-Kiss has moved to third all-time with 194 career goals, fourth with 81 career assists and fifth with 102 career steals. He finished the 2004 season hitting 46.1 percent of his shots, scoring 35 extra-man goals on the season To start 2004 he is shooting 40 percent with one extra-man goal. He played all 32 games and scored in 30 of those 32 and 21 were multi-goal games and 14 of those were with three goals or more. He had five five-goal games, including Iona (9-4-04), Santa Clara (9-10-04), Air Force (9-18-04), UCLA (10-9-04) and UC Santa Cruz (10-30-04). He scored the game winner in sudden-victory overtime in the semifinals of the WWPA Tournament against UC Davis (11-19-04) and also led team with 28 assists and 32 steals. He helped the Lions to their second WWPA title in the last three seasons and a third place finish in the 2004 NCAA Men's Water Polo National Championship, posting a 21-11 record.
The NCAAs
The Lions made their third appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2004, splitting their pair of games with a semifinal loss to host Stanford, 14-6, and then defeated third-seed Princeton 6-5. The Lions have a record of 3-3 in tournament games, finishing third all three years. In the win over Princeton the Tigers took an early 1-0 that would not hold. Brian McShane scored the first goal with a spin lob landing in the back of the goal with 3:30 left in the first and Endre Rex-Kiss continued to be the scoring threat with the first of his three on an assist from Pat Reilly, ending the first up one goal. The second quarter proved no different as Reilly put the Lions at a 3-2 lead with an outside lob shot from 5-meters. Rex-Kiss and Tyler Swanson would both score in the third to give LMU a 5-3 lead. Princeton closed the third period with another goal to put pressure on the Lions as the score was 5-4 heading into the fourth. Rex-Kiss ended his season with a record setting 83 goals, raising his career record to 193 goals, tying for third in all time career goals.
Back-to-Back
Brian McShane's two second-half goals and goalkeeper Ian Elliott's six fourth-quarter saves helped lift Loyola Marymount to a 6-3 victory over Redlands in the championship game of the 2004 Western Water Polo Association tournament at Schaal Aquatics Center Saturday, Nov. 20. The win gives the Lions their second consecutive conference championship and third in four years. In addition, the Lions earn the WWPA's automatic-qualifying berth in the National Collegiate Championships, held at Stanford University in December. The Bulldogs took an early 2-0 lead on goals by Sam Barker and Grant Culton. The Lions would cut the lead in half when Cutberto Hernandez scored with 4:21 remaining in the half. Then midway through the second quarter, Endre Rex-Kiss converted a four-meter penalty shot to tie the game at 2-2. Senior Trevor Wagner gave the Lions their first lead when he scored on a rebound and putback with 2:39 remaining on an extra-man goal. Both teams locked into a defensive battle for the remainder of the half, as the Lions held its 3-2 lead into the break. Redlands' Spencer Dinnean re-tied the game at 3-3 with his 6-on-5 goal at the 5:22 mark in the third. McShane answered back about a minute later, giving the Lions the lead for good. LMU shut down Redlands offense in the fourth quarter, helped by Elliott's heroics in nets and a fine steal at four-meters by Rex-Kiss. McShane and Sean Wimer helped the Lions pull away to the final margin.
Award Winners
In case you missed it, the Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team added individual awards to their second straight Western Water Polo Association Championship. Junior Endre Rex-Kiss highlighted the honors, taking home WWPA Player of the Year honors. In addition to his MVP honor, Rex-Kiss was named first-team All-WWPA. Joining him on that list for the second straight season was goalie Ian Elliott. The sophomore earned first-team honors in net his freshman season a year ago. Making their first trip to the All-WWPA lists is senior Sean Wimer, whose 27 goals was third on the team, was named second-team and sophomore transfer Brian McShane was named honorable mention.
An Impact Transfer
As for junior Brian McShane, he made his presence felt in his first year at LMU in 2004. In addition to his 30 goals, second on the squad, McShane anchored the two-meter spot for the Lions. He drew 85 kickouts on the season and had 21 steals. McShane got hot to end the season for the Lions, scoring six goals in the WWPA tournament and a goal in the final 10 games heading into the NCAA tournament. He added a goal in the tournament. To start the 2005 season he started where he left off, scoring a hat trick in the first game of the year and has started with five goals on nine shots (55.6 percent). He already has six kickouts and four steals.
Stopper
Junior goalie Ian Elliott showed why he is one of the nation's best by leading the Lions to another WWPA title. Elliott made huge saves late in the season for the Lions, posting 266 saves on the year with just 202 goals against. His goals against average is 7.15 on the season. He has 12 games with 10 or more saves, including 10 in the win over Redlands in the WWPA title game and 15 in the win over Princeton in the NCAA tournament. In that contest, he made six saves in the fourth quarter to protect the lead. He had a career-high 17 saves in the win over Air Force on Nov. 6 and had 15 more in the win over UC Davis on Oct. 30. In a stretch of seven games from Oct. 24-Nov. 6, he made 83 saves. He has started the 2005 season with 34 saves, making 14 of those against UC Irvine on Sunday.
The Coach
In the past eight years, Head Coach John Loughran has been going about his business in developing the Loyola Marymount water polo programs (both the men and women) into one of the nation's best. In the men's water polo win over UC San Diego on Oct. 15, Loughran recorded his 200th career win as a men's water polo coach at the collegiate level. Loughran now has 134 wins at LMU to go with the 75 he earned while at Queens College in New York. Loughran has won eight conference titles in his time at LMU, taking five straight for the women's team and three in the last four years for the men. He has led the Lions to back-to-back conference titles, earning a win over UC San Diego in 2003 and Redlands in 2004. In 2001, they won their first-ever WWPA championship, going 15-14 overall, and earning a bid to the NCAA Championship. That team also finished third after a win over UMass. Adding to his impressive resume, Loughran has won six WWPA Coach of the Year honors, four in women's water polo (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) and two in men's water polo (2001, 2003). He has posted an overall record of 134-105 (.560) for the men's team in eight seasons, ranking him as the program's all-time winningest coach. He has also earned a record of 169-77 (.686) with the women's water polo program.
Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center
Since it opened in the fall of 2000 as the home of Loyola Marymount University aquatics, the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center has seen eight championships and the two water polo teams combine for 92 wins in just five short seasons. The Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center opened in August of 2000. The Burns Center is home to the on campus recreation center, which sees thousands of community members, students, faculty and staff through its doors each day. Showing that it is one of the finest facilities in the country, LMU hosted the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship in 2002. Both days of the event were sold out with a crowd of more than 2,600 for the championship. The Lions have thrived in the state-of-the-art facility, earning a record of 92-25 in five seasons. The men's team went 6-3 in 2004 and have compiled a record of 41-17 (.706) during its stay at the Center. As for the women's team, they won their first 21 games at the Burns Aquatics Center and have posted a 51-8 record (.864) in four seasons, going 10-2 in 2005. Overall, the two teams have combined for eight conference titles while the facility has been called home. One of the premier aquatics facilities in Southern California, the Burns recreation center pool is heated and features an advanced deck-level drainage system.
- GO LIONS -
