March 25, 2003
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Briefly
The Loyola Marymount University women's water polo team returns home to the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center for a match-up with conference rival UC Davis on Thursday, March 27 before hosting the LMU Invitational on March 28-29. The Lions enter the weekend with a record of 11-7, winning a season-best four straight on the season.
The LMU Invite
The Lions enter the week on a four-game winning streak before taking on UC Davis on Thursday. Both the Lions and UC Davis will also play in the 2003 LMU Invitational, which starts Friday. The Aggies enter the week 10-9 on the season, playing in their first set of games in nearly three weeks. The Aggies will take on Claremont in the first game of the tournament on Friday at 1:00 p.m. Claremont enters the tournament at 6-6, playing UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday. Santa Clara will come to the tournament after a busy week of play, taking on Pomona on Tuesday, CS San Bernardino and La Verne on Wednesday and Occidental on Thursday. Their record entering the week is 11-11. Cal State Northridge has the best record in the field at 14-3, taking on Cal State Haywood on Wednesday as they have won four straight. The Matadors and Broncos will play in the second game of the tournament on Friday at 2:15 p.m. Redlands, who will play LMU in the final game at 3:30, plays UCSB and Brown on Tuesday as their record is 3-9 entering the week.
LMU Invitational Schedule
Friday, March 28
1:00 p.m. - UC Davis vs. Claremont
2:15 p.m. - CSUN vs. Santa Clara
3:30 p.m. - LMU vs. Redlands
Saturday, March 29
9:00 a.m. - UC Davis vs. CSUN
10:15 a.m. - Redlands vs. Santa Clara
11:30 a.m. - LMU vs. Claremont
1:00 p.m. - UC Davis vs. Redlands
2:15 p.m. - Claremont vs. CSUN
3:30 p.m. - LMU vs. Santa Clara
Getting Offensive
With its four-game winning streak, the Lions enter the weekend on a role offensively. Struggling to find a consistent go to scorer to start the year, the Lions finally got on track last week, scoring their season high in goals for three straight games. LMU capped the stretch with an 18-goal output in the win over UC Santa Cruz on Saturday. The 18 goals were scored by 11 different Lions, including five players getting their first goal of the season. It was two goals shy of the single-game record and the 16-goal margin of victory is the largest in the program's history.
Last Week
It was quite the week for the Lions as they picked up four straight wins, two coming against teams ranked in the top-20 nationally... vs. #17 Princeton... LMU used 17 saves from freshman goalie Rachel Riddell to earn a hard fought 5-2 victory over 17th-ranked Princeton last Wednesday. Riddell snagged six saves in the fourth quarter to thwart any come-back bid by the Tigers. The Lions had goals from five different players, all in the first half... vs. #13 Indiana... LMU used a balanced offensive attack, getting goals from nine different players to defeat 14th-ranked Indiana 12-3 in on Thursday afternoon at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The seventh-ranked Lions scored four first quarter goals and never trailed as they had their best offensive games of the season, topping their previous season high in goals which was 10 against Cal Baptist in the second game of the year. Freshman Katie Hicks, junior Devon Wright and freshman Stacia Peterson had two goals each in the win... at Roadrunner Invite... The Lions remained the team to beat in the Western Water Polo Association with a sweep of conference foes Cal State Bakersfield and UC Santa Cruz in the CSUB Roadrunner Invitational on Saturday. The Lions earned a pair of convincing wins, defeating the Roadrunners in the first game 15-4 and then took care of Santa Cruz 18-2 in game two. With the 15 and 18 goals in back-to-back games, the Lions set a season high for the second and third straight game, topping the 12 they had on Thursday against No. 14 Indiana. On the day 15 different players scored, including five players with their first of the season.
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.
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 22 goals on 58 shots (38 percent). Hoagland is shooting 39 percent, scoring 11 goals on the year. Freshman goalie Rachel Riddell has had a solid start, making 155 saves in 16 games of work for a 4.84 goals against average.
Young and Experience
Freshman Katie Hicks has already is off to a solid first season of collegiate water polo. The native of San Luis Obispo leads the team with 27 goals, five shy of breaking into the career top-10 at LMU. Sophomore Jessica Conner has also had a solid start to her second season, scoring 17 goals with 26 steals. Junior Teresa Guidi and senior Julia Wald continue to become a pair of the Lions' all-time leading scorers. Guidi has added 16 this season to give her 95 in her career (fourth all-time at LMU). Wald has added seven to her totals for 111 in her four years (third all-time).
Taking Third
LMU earned a third place finish at the 2002 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships thanks to a 6-4 win over the University of Michigan. Senior Lucy Windes scored four of the Lions' six tallies and senior Western Water Polo Association Player of the Year Devon Courtney made several tough saves in the victory. With the game tied at 1-1, Windes took over. She would score with 6:19 remaining in the second period to give LMU a 2-1 lead and then again just over 40 seconds later for the 3-1 lead. The game would go into halftime with Lions up 3-2. Teresa Guidi would score possibly the Lions' biggest goal of the game with just 1:24 remaining in the third period to give LMU a 4-2 lead. Windes would add her third of the game on a penalty shot with just four seconds remaining in the third. Windes would get her fourth of the day with 1:50 left in the fourth period to give LMU the 6-3 lead. The Lions were put into the consolation game against Michigan thanks to a 11-2 loss to UCLA in the NCAA Women's Water Polo semifinals. It was the second straight season the Lions have fallen to the Bruins in the first day of the NCAA Championship.
All-Americans
Three members of the Loyola Marymount University women's water polo team were named to the 2002 American Water Polo Coaches Association All-American team, the most ever in the program's five-year history. Senior Lucy Windes, who became the first player in program history to claim back-to-back All-American honors, was selected second-team All-America for the second consecutive season. Earning third-team All-America honors was senior goalie Devon Courtney, her first selection to the All-America team. Also earning her first selection was sophomore Teresa Guidi, who earned honorable mention All-America honors.
Back-to-Back
The Lions became just the fourth team in LMU history to claim back-to-back conference championships with three convincing wins in the Western Water Polo Association championships held April 26-28 at UC Santa Cruz. The Lions outscored their opponents 38-6 during the tournament to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Final Four. The Lions defended their Western Water Polo Association title on Sunday with a 8-4 win over No. 9 UC San Diego to receive their second-straight automatic bid. Freshman Jessica Conner led the Lions in scoring in the championship game with three goals. Sophomore utility player Jamie Kroeze put a pair of goals in the cage, which was supplemented by solo goals from Guidi, Windes and Christina Radvanyi. With a 4-3 halftime lead the Lions pulled away in the third quarter with three goals. UCSD put one goal away early in the fourth period to bring the score to 7-4. LMU would get the goal right back to seal the victory.
-GO LIONS-
