Oct. 25, 2001

Los Angeles, CA -- LMU's 9th-ranked men's water polo team collected their ninth victory of the season with their 7-6 win over the 8th-ranked UC San Diego Tritons Thursday afternoon at the Burns Aquatics Center, marking the Lions first win over the Tritons.

The Lions came out with an aggressive first period, as goals came from Kevin Witt and Scott Smith. Jonathan Samuels was the only Triton to find the score in the first period, giving the Lions a slight 2-1 edge over the defending WWPA Champions.

The Lions began to pull away in the second period, as they out-scored the Tritons 4-1. LMU's goals came from Kyle Witt, Stephen Lipinski, Tamas Szego, and Smith for his second goal. Kevin Smoker scored his only goal of the match for UC San Diego in the second period.

UC San Diego brought the game to a close 5-7 third quarter as Bryon Spicer, Brandon Borso, and Samuels each scored against the Lions' defense. Kris Barr was the only Lion to score in the entire second half.

Jonathan Hopkins battled once again for the Tritons with his fourth-quarter goal as time ran down on the Tritons.

LMU's goalie Kevin Paulsen recorded 10 saves against the Tritons, whose season record now stands at 14-4. The Lions improve to 9-12 as they get ready to host Air Force and Redlands next Saturday, Nov. 3 at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., respectively.

Scoring Summary:
1 2 3 4 Final
LMU 2 4 1 0 7
UCSD 1 1 3 1 6

LMU: Smith (2), Ke. Witt, Ky. Witt, Lipinski, Szego, Barr
UC San Diego: Samuels (2), Smoker, Spicer, Borso, Hopkins.