March 12, 2003

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Briefly
The Loyola Marymount University women's water polo team is coming off a seventh place finish at the 16-team UC Santa Barbara Invitational last weekend. The seventh-ranked Lions will head to UCLA for a match-up with the top-ranked Bruins on Thursday, March 13. LMU will also host a match against its Alumni at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Saturday at 12 noon.

In the Rankings
The Lions continued to move up the ranks of the nation's elite as they were ranked sixth in the 2003 preseason poll by the American Water Polo Coaches' Association and retained that ranking for the first five weeks of the season. The Lions, who have won the Western Water Polo Association championship the last two seasons, will be looking for their third straight trip to the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship. The number six ranking is the highest since they finished last season ranked seventh in the nation while defeating Michigan in the third place game of the 2002 NCAA Championship. Following their overtime loss to San Diego State, the Lions dropped one spot to seventh in the latest poll release on March 12.

Scouting the Bruins
This will be the fifth overall meeting between UCLA and LMU. The teams have faced each other in the semifinals of the last two NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships. The Bruins also defeated the Lions 12-5 in last weekend's UCSB Invitational, moving their record to 4-0 against the Lions. This past weekend the Bruins won the UC Santa Barbara Invitational, running the table with a pefect 4-0 record, including victories over No. 2 USC in the semifinals an No. 1 Stanford in the finals. On the season they have a record of 10-3 and are led by Natalie Golda with 23 goals and Jessica Lopez with 12. In the Bruins four victories this weekend, they scored an average of ten goals a game and only allowed an average of 3.25 goals a game. Freshman Lauren Heineck scored at least one goal in each of the Bruins victories. Junior Natalie Golda led all scorers at the tournament with a total of ten goals. Robin Beauregard, Jessica Lopez and Mari Joyce each recorded a hat trick for the Bruins

Last Week
The Loyola Marymount University women's water polo team used a five-goal outing by freshman Katie Hicks to earn a 9-7 victory over 8th-ranked Hawaii in the seventh place game of the UC Santa Barbara Invitational on Sunday. The sixth-ranked Lions were pushed to the seventh place game of the tournament thanks to a tough 7-6 overtime loss to seventh-ranked San Diego State in the first game on Sunday. The Lions record goes to 7-6 on the season after going 2-2 at the UCSB Invite. Hicks finished the tournament with nine goals and junior Devon Wright added six to pace the Lions over the weekend... Against Hawaii... Hicks scored a goal in every quarter, including two in the second to push the Lions to a 5-2 halftime lead. LMU would add three more in the third to hold an 8-4 lead going into the final quarter. Hawaii would make a come back with three goals in the fourth to make it 8-7. However, Hicks would score in the fourth for the crucial two-goal lead... Against SDSU... In the heartbreaker against the Aztecs, the Lions trailed 5-4 heading into the final quarter. Senior Teresa Guidi would score late in the period to send the game into over time. Neither team would score in the first overtime frame... Against UC San Diego... The Lions opened up the UCSB Invitational with a 6-2 win over UC San Diego.The Lions had three goals on the day from junior Devon Wright and freshman Katie Hicks. Wright had two in the win over UCSD and Hicks had a pair against UCLA... Against UCLA... LMU fell to UCLA and a record six goals from Bruins' Natalie Golda, 12-5 in the second game of the day on Saturday. UCLA got out to a 6-4 lead through two quarters and in the second half the Bruin defense held LMU to one goal while scoring six.

Making a Statement
Several newcomers are making an instant impact in their first season at LMU. Junior college transfers Devon Wright and Neisha Hoagland are among the team leaders in goals. Wright is second on the team with 13 goals on 37 shots (35 percent). Hoagland is shooting 41 percent, scoring nine goals on the year. Freshman goalie Rachel Riddell has had a solid start, making 100 saves in 12 games of work for a 5.391 goals against average.

Youth Movement
Freshman Katie Hicks has already posted strong start to her first season of collegiate water polo. The native of San Luis Obispo leads the team with 20 goals, scoring five in the win over Hawaii on Sunday. Sophomore Jessica Conner has also had a solid start to her second season, scoing 10 goals with 21 steals. Junior Teresa Guidi continues to become the team's leader, with nine goals, and team-highs with 23 steals and 29 kick-outs drawn.

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