Oct. 19, 2005
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Just Briefly
The 11th-ranked Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team is entering its final stretch of games in the 2005 season. After 24 games this season, the Lions have played just three at home. That will change this weekend. After a trip to UC Irvine to open this week's set of games on Thursday, Oct. 20, the Lions will play five of their final six at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The Lions will take on LA Valley College and Whittier at the Burns Center on Saturday.
UC Irvine
LMU will travel to UC Irvine on Thursday to take on the Anteaters at 7:00 p.m. The Lions have already faced the seventh-ranked Anteaters twice this season, falling to UC Irvine in the final game of the UCSD Triton Invitational, 5-4, on Sept.4 and then 10-6 in the opening game of the SoCal Invitational at UC Irvine on Sept. 17. The Lions are 3-10 all-time against UC Irvine, winning the last two heading into this season. UC Irvine is 9-8 on the season after going 2-2 with a seventh place finish at the Northern California Tournament in Berkeley this past weekend. The Anteaters opened with an 8-5 win over Pacific, then lost a pair of one-goal games to USC (7-6) and UC San Diego (11-10). UCI defeated Long Beach State, 10-9, in the seventh-place game Sunday. Senior Dreason Barry leads UCI in scoring with 38 goals, followed by junior Tim Hutten with 31.
Double Dip Saturday
The Lions will face a pair of opponents on Saturday, Oct. 22. The Lions will open with Los Angeles Valley College at 11:00 a.m. and then face Whittier at 3:30 p.m. This is the first meeting for the Lions against LA Valley College. As for Whittier, the teams have met 27 times prior to Saturday. LMU holds a 24-3 edge on the Poets, winning the last 12. Their last meeting in the WWPA Championships was the closest in the history of the series as LMU earned a 12-11 win in overtime. The Poets enter the week at 7-11 overall. They play Cal Lutheran on Wednesday and then La Verne on Saturday morning before playing the Lions.
The Lions
The Lions enter the weekend with an overall record of 12-12 after taking 11th place in the 16-team NorCal Invitational. The 11th place in the tournament gives the Lions a national ranking of 11th, up one spot from last week. The top-20 results tend to reflect the results of the NorCal Open as it featured 15 of the nation's top-20 teams last weekend. Senior Endre Rex-Kiss scored 13 goals at NorCal to give him 52 goals on the season. He is currently sixth in the nation in goals, scoring on 47.7 percent of his shots. Goalie Ian Elliott upped his save total to 175 on the year, ranking him sixth in the nation. He has a 6.95 goals against average as the Lions have allowed just seven goals a game this season, good for 10th in the nation. One last statistic to note, the Lions have assisted on 100 of their 197 goals this season, good for nearly 51 percent.
Meant to Be Broken
With three goals against UCSD, Endre Rex-Kiss moved into second all-time program history with 213 goals. His team high 52 goals this season give him 241 in his career. 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. In addition, his 10 assists at the East Meets West Tournament made him the all-time assists leader in LMU history with 103. He is also fourth all-time with 123 steals and fourth in games played with 117.
Solid Start
Half way into the season, junior Cutberto Hernandez has already posted some of his best numbers in his three-year career. Through 17 games played, Hernandez is second on the team in goals with 19. He has already set a single season high, eclipsing the 16 he had as a sophomore a year ago. In addition, he has already doubled his career assist total in just one month, earning 16 assists so far this season. He entered the season with nine in two previous seasons. He has also nearly doubled his career steals mark, grabbing 13 so far this season. He entered 2005 with 15 in his career. Hernandez helped the Lions close the month of September on a five-game win streak as they rank ninth in the nation. His solid start has been hampered of late by injuries. He missed five of the last seven due to a hip injury.
Stopper
Junior goalie Ian Elliott showed why he is one of the nation's best by leading the Lions to another WWPA title. He continues that trend this season with 175 saves while allowing just 158 goals (6.95 goals against average). He has played in 91 of the 96 quarters this season and was named to the East Meets West All-Tournament team. He is ranked sixth in the nation with 175 saves, giving him a program record 694 in his career.
Last Week
The Lions had another busy weekend last week, playing five games. LMU started the stetch of games at #4 Stanford, falling to the Cardinal 10-3. Endre Rex-Kiss, Ben Easton and Matt Reynolds each scored. The Lions then went 2-2 at the NorCal Open to finish in 11th place. The Lions fell to No. 8 Long Beach State 9-7 in the opener and then defeated UC Santa Cruz, 9-5. LMU then dropped a heartbreaker to No. 14 UC Davis, falling 7-6 in overtime after holding a 5-2 lead early in the game. LMU recovered with another 9-5 win, this time over No. 9 St. Francis. Rex-Kiss had 13 goals at NorCal, including five against UC Santa Cruz. Shaun Flood had an impressive showing against St. Francis, scoring three 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.
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 146 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 146-117 (.558) 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 93 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 93-26 in five seasons. The men's team went 6-3 in 2004 and have compiled a record of 42-19 (.788) during its stay at the Center. Overall, the two teams have combined for eight conference titles while the facility has been called home.
- GO LIONS -
