Nov. 28, 2005

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Los Angeles, CA (Nov. 28) - The Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team will play in their third straight NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship as the No. 3 seed and take on No. 2 seed Stanford in the second semifinal of the 2005 NCAA tournament hosted by Bucknell in Lewisburg, Penn., on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 2:00 p.m. (PT).

The seedings were announced on Sunday evening and the Lions will play in their fourth NCAA tournament in the last five seasons. The first semifinal will feature No. 1 seed and No. 1 nationally ranked USC taking on No. 4 seed St. Francis at 12:30 p.m. (PT). The championship game will be on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. (PT) and the consolation final will be at 1:30 p.m.

LMU earned the automatic bid to the NCAAs by winning their third consecutive Western Water Polo Association championship with a 7-6 win over then No. 7 UC San Diego. The Lions enter the tournament at 18-15 over, winning seven of their last 10 games. USC won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship on Sunday with an 8-5 win over Stanford to earn the MPSF automatic bid. They enter the NCAAs with a record of 24-1.

The third and final automatic bid went to St. Francis, winner of the Collegiate Water Polo Association. St. Francis, ranked 11th nationally, is the No. 4 seed in this year's tournament, earning the trip with a 10-9 win over the Naval Academy in the CWPA championship game. They enter the tournament 20-8.

Earning the final spot was Stanford with the at-large bid. They finished second to USC in the MPSF with a 19-6 record and are ranked second nationally and are the second seed in the NCAA tournament.

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