Sept. 28, 2005
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Just Briefly
The Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team will continue their stretch of games against the nation's best when they host UCLA at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 3:00 p.m. Following the single match at home, the Lions will head to Air Force for the East Meets West Tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Oct. 1-2.
The Match-up
For the 14th time in school history the Lions will take on UCLA this Thursday. The Bruins trip to LMU is just the third time overall in the history of the series and just the second trip to the Burns Center. The Lions will be looking to earn their first ever win against the NCAA defending champs. For the Lions, all six losses have come against teams ranked in the top-10 currently, with three coming down to a two goals or less. The last time these two teams met at the Burns Center, it came down to overtime, the closest meeting ever in the series. The Lions held a lead late in the fourth quarter but saw UCLA tie it and then win in overtime, 7-6.
The Lions
LMU enters the game at 5-6 and will play their fourth straight game against a team in the nation's top-20. Senior Endre Rex-Kiss, the second leading scorer in LMU history, has led the Lions in scoring seven times out of 11 games. He leads the team with 24 goals, 11 coming on the extra-man attack. He also leads the team with 11 assists and is second with 14 steals. Second on the team in scoring is junior Cutberto Hernandez with 13 goals, five on the extra-man attack. He is second to Rex-Kiss in assists with 10 and is third with 11 steals. Leading the team in steals is Matt Reynolds.
East vs. West
The 18th-ranked Air Force water polo team will host the East Meets West Tournament, featuring fellow WWPA opponents LMU and Occidental, as well as Brown and Iona. All teams will face each other, with the weekend capped off with first- and third-place games. The action starts Saturday at 8:00 a.m., when Air Force takes on Occidental in a conference match-up. All games will take place in the Cadet Natatorium and admission is free of charge.
East Meets West Tournament
Saturday, Oct. 1
Time (MST) Match-up
8:00 a.m. Air Force vs. Occidental
9:15 a.m. LMU vs. Iona
11:15 a.m. Air Force vs. Brown
12:30 p.m. LMU vs. Occidental
2:15 p.m. Iona vs. Brown
3:30 p.m. Air Force vs. LMU
5:15 p.m. Iona vs. Occidental
Sunday, Oct. 2
8:00 a.m. LMU vs. Brown
9:15 a.m. Air Force vs. Iona
10:30 a.m. Brown vs. Occidental
1:00 p.m. Championship Game
2:15 p.m. Third Place Game
Last Week
The 10th-ranked Loyola Marymount men's water polo team fell to 5th-ranked UC San Diego by a 7-5 score Friday night in front of 1,091 fans at the Canyonview Aquatic Center on the UCSD campus. UCSD (12-2) jumped out to a 3-0 lead through the start of the second frame and build the lead to 6-1 before the Lions (5-6) responded. The Lions scored the games next four goals to get within one before the Triton's ended the rally. UCSD up 6-1 with 2:06 remaining in the half. With only 46 seconds remaining before intermission, LMU got its second goal of the game as Rex-Kiss made the score 6-2. LMU was the first to score in the second half as Brian McShane found the back of the net after he was left all alone in front of the goal. His tally came at the 4:39 mark of the third quarter. The Lions pulled to within two at 6-4 with just under two minutes to go in the third quarter as Cutberto Hernandez put back his own rebound for his first goal of the match. The fourth quarter started with the Tritons up by two goals on the scoreboard, but the momentum was squarely on the side of the visiting Lions after posting a 2-0 advantage in the third quarter. LMU continued that momentum as Endre Rex-Kiss netted his third goal of the game, this one coming with 4:41 remaining in the match and brought the Lions to within one goal. UCSD answered right back as Ty Lackey got his first goal of the game to put the Tritons up 7-5 with 4:12 to go in the game. The two teams will meet again, next time in Los Angeles, on October 29.
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. He continues to add his accomplishments in the start of 2005, leading the team with 24 goals, including a personal-best six goal game in the win over Santa Clara on Sept. 9.
Meant to Be Broken
With three goals against UCSD, Rex-Kiss moved into second all-time program history with 213 goals. He replaced Kyle Witt (2002) who had 210. Ryan Eisberg finished his career with 301 total points (played during two-point goal era) to lead all goal scorers. Rex-Kiss is also second all-time with 92 career assists, fifth with 112 career steals and 10th in games played with 103. He is one assist away from tying Witt for the all-time assist lead in LMU history. In 2004 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.
Solid Start
Prior to the start of the 2005 season, Head Coach John Loughran was looking to his returning players to fill important roles. Junior Cutberto Hernandez has done that to start the year, scoring 12 goals in the first 10 games of the 2005 season. Hernandez, who played over the summer, entered the season with 21 career goals, scoring 16 last season. So far this year he has four multple goal games. He also leads the team in drawing nine kickouts this season and also leads the team with six assists.
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 91 saves, making 14 of those against UC Irvine in their first meeting. He added a pair of 10-save games, earning 10 against Bucknell and Navy.
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.
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.
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 139 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. He has posted an overall record of 139-111 (.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 LMU 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. 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. Overall, the two teams have combined for eight conference titles while the facility has been called home.
