Nov. 16, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Just Briefly
The 10th-ranked Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team will enter the 2005 Western Water Polo Association Men's Water Polo Championship as the No. 2 seed with a 15-15 overall record and 7-3 mark against WWPA opponents. The Lions are the two-time defending champs, defeating Redlands a year ago and UC San Diego two seasons ago. The Lions have won three of the last four and will host this year's tournament at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The action begins on Thursday, Nov. 17 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 19. The Lions will open the tournament at 1:50 p.m. on Thursday against the winner of Santa Clara and Pomona-Pitzer.
The Lions
The Lions finished the regular season with a 15-15 record and enter the tournament ranked No. 10 overall in the nation. In the national statistical rankings, the Lions are 22nd in goals with 240 in 30 games while ranking ninth in goals allowed at 6.8 per game. Junior Ian Elliott is ranked fifth in the country with his 242 saves while senior Endre Rex-Kiss is ranked eighth with 62 goals on the year. The two-time All-American also has 30 assists and 31 steals, ranking first and second on the team. Junior Brian McShane is second on the squad with 26 goals and while junior Matt Reynolds is first in steals with 33.
The WWPAs
The Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team will look to defend its back-to-back titles as the No. 2 seed in the upcoming 2005 Western Water Polo Association Men's Water Polo Championships. The Lions will host the tournament at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center starting on Thursday, Nov. 17 and running through Saturday, Nov. 19. The championship game will be a t 3 p.m. Saturday. Earning the top seed in this year's tournament is UC San Diego (22-7). The Tritons and the Lions (15-15) have shared the No. 1 or No. 2 seed the last four seasons. The remainder of the 10-team field includes No.3 seed UC Davis (15-13), No.4 BYU-Hawaii (12-8), No.5 Redlands (20-11), No.6 Air Force (11-13), No.7 Santa Clara (14-14), No.8 UC Santa Cruz (4-19), No.9 Whittier (15-14) and No.10 Pomona Pitzer (14-14). The tournament will begin with seventh seed Santa Clara taking on Pomona Pitzer at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. The winner will then play The Lions in Game #5 at 1:50 p.m. The second game of the day will feature UC Santa Cruz and Whittier at 9:50 a.m. The winner of the second game will take on UC San Diego in Game #6 at 3:10 p.m. Game No. 3 will feature BYU-Hawaii and Redlands at 11:10 a.m. and Game No. 4 will see UC Davis and Air Force at 12:30 p.m. The Lions are the two-time defending champs and they have won three of the last four titles. Last year LMU defeated Redlands in the championship game, 6-3, to earn the WWPA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 2005 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship will be hosted by Bucknell in Lewisburg, Penn., on Dec. 3-4. In the national rankings UCSD is No. 7, LMU No. 10, UC Davis No. 11, BYU-Hawaii No. 16, Air Force No. 18 and Redlands No. 19.
All-Time Series
Against the field of this year's WWPA Championship the Lions are:
Air Force: 12-15
BYU-Hawaii: 5-0
Pomona-Pitzer: 16-4
Redlands: 15-11
Santa Clara: 14-6
UC Davis: 14-9
UC San Diego: 4-26
UC Santa Cruz: 9-3
Whittier: 25-3
Total: 114-77 (.597)
Senior Farewell
This will be the final stretch for seniors Endre Rex-Kiss, Justin Coleman and Scott Marshall. In his four seasons at LMU, Rex-Kiss has risen to the top of almost every record in LMU history. This season he leads the team with 62 goals, giving him 251 in his career. He now sits second all-time in career points, replacing 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. Although records are unofficial for actual goals, Rex-Kiss' 251 goals is the best in LMU history. In addition, he is first all-time with 111 assists, first with 123 games played and fourth all-time with 129 steals. After spending three years as a back-up goalie for the Lions, Coleman answered the call to play on the offensive end for the Lions, making a difficult transition in his final season. In his first season in the field, Coleman has four goals. In his previous three season, Coleman played 69 quarters in goal, making 116 saves while allowing just 109 goals for a goals against average of 6.3. Marshall will complete his third season at LMU with 38 goals in 83 career games. Marshall has 17 goals on the year entering the UCSB game, adding 10 assists and four steals to his career totals. In his career he has 17 assists and 17 steals.
Stopper
Junior goalie Ian Elliott showed why he is one of the nation's best by leading the Lions to another WWPA title last season. He continues that trend this season with 242 saves while allowing just 194 goals (6.75 goals against average). He has played in 115of the 120 quarters this season and was named to the East Meets West All-Tournament team. He is ranks fifth in the nation with 242 saves, giving him a program record 761 in his career.
Last Week
Loyola Marymount University men's water polo junior Matt Reynolds scored three goals for the Lions on Thursday against UC Santa Barbara. However, he did not get any help as the Gauchos defeated the Lions in the final game of the regular season in Santa Barbara. LMU got on the board first when Matt Reynolds - who tallied all three of his team's goals on the day - scored with 3:00 remaining in the first quarter. UCSB, however, responded 23 second later to knot the score. Neither team scored again in the first quarter, but UCSB broke the tie less than 30 seconds into the second period. UCSB took a 3-1 lead that it never relinquished with 5:29 to go in the second. Reynolds cut the gap to 3-2 with 4:48 remaining, but UCSB scored again with just 16 seconds to go in the half to give the Gauchos a 4-2 lead at the break. Santa Barbara used a strong defensive effort in the second half to ice the win. Reynolds scored the Lions' only second half goal with less than a half second remaining in the third quarter.
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 149 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 149-120 (.556) 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 95 wins in just five short seasons. The Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center opened in August of 2000. The Lions have thrived in the state-of-the-art facility, earning a record of 95-28 in five seasons. The men's team went 6-3 in 2004 and have compiled a record of 45-20 (.692) 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 -
