Sept. 11, 2003
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Just Briefly
The Lions registered a pair of ties over the weekend, playing No.10 Wasington to a 1-1 draw, while also ending their match against Boston in a 1-1 stalemate. Sophomore Caroline Dugoni scored her first career goal as a Lion in LMU's tie with the Huskies. Kelly Yukihiro recorded seven saves in the match with UW. Freshman midfielder Tana Smothermon scored the first goal of her collegiate career in the tie with Boston.
Up Next
The Lions return home to host the LMU Tournament this weekend. The action kicks off with UW-Milwaukee and No.4 UCLA on Friday, Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. The Lions and Oakland will follow that game at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday's games start at 11 a.m. with UCLA and Oakland, while the Lions and UW-Milwaukee follow at 1:30 p.m. All the games will be played on Sullivan Field on the Loyola Marymount campus.
Don't Doubt Dugoni
Sophomore Caroline Dugoni scored her first career goal as a Lion last Friday against No.10 Washington. The second-year midfielder played in 12 games as a rookie last season taking just two shots on the year. She has already doubled that mark, taking four shots this season, having played in all four of the Lions' games so far.
Smothermon Swings Into Gear
Freshman Tana Smothermon has made her Lion debut a good one. A 5-foot-5 midfielder from San Jose, Calif., Smothermon has started all four of the Lions' games this season. She collected an assist in her first game as a Lion (CS Northridge, Aug.29) and tallied her first collegiate goal last Sunday against Boston University. Smothermon has been keeping the opponents goalkeepers busy as her nine shots so far is second on the squad. Whitney Temple is the only other freshman to take the field so far this season. Temple, a 5-foot-6 midfielder from Piedmont, Calif., along with Smothermon, is part of the Lion recruiting class that was ranked as the 10th best incoming class of the west by Soccer Buzz magazine.
All Tied Up
The Lions' two ties last weekend against No.10 Washington and Boston University marked the first time in four seasons that they have recorded back-to-back ties. In those four years, LMU has not recorded more than three ties in a season. The 1998 squad holds the record for most ties in a single-season going 12-2-5 under Head Coach Gregg Murphy that season.
Nishikawa Cracks The Record Book
Junior Shari Nishikawa's continues to inch her way up the all-time charts at LMU. The five assists she picked up last year gives her a total of eight career assists, which launched her into the top-10 on the all-time chart at LMU. Nishikawa is currently eighth on the career assists list tied with former Lion Bree McCann (1996-99). Nishikawa's team leading five assists last year was also among the best in the WCC. She finished 2002 just four assists shy from claiming the top spot in the single-season record book. The current single-season record of eight was set by Cindy Carullo (1993-96) in 1993 and then matched by Jessica Lyon (1995-98) in 1997.
A League Above The Rest
The WCC is the conference that many of the top women's soccer prospects are looking to when selecting a league to compete in. The league was ranked #3 in the nation in conference recruiting for the upcoming 2003 season by Soccer Buzz. With back-to-back national titles (Santa Clara in 2001, Portland in 2002), recruits are taking notice that some of the most competitive soccer is being played on the West Coast. In the highly competitive West region, all eight WCC schools are ranked in the top-25 in regards to incoming recruiting classes, making the league arguably the toughest conference in the nation. According to Soccer Buzz the Lions boast the 10th best recruiting class in the region and the 39th best in the nation. Soccer Buzz also ranks LMU 10th in the West Region.
All-West Coast Honors
Seven members of the LMU women's soccer team earned All-West Coast honors last season, as voted on by the league coaches. Senior defender Laura Trask earned first-team honors, while fellow senior Shari Nishikawa was named to the second team at midfield. 2002 Seniors Myka Peck and Beth Skhal, along with sophomore Kellie Schroeder, Jennifer Horn and Lori Sims garnered honorable mention recognition. Five of those seven members return to the field for the Lions in 2003.
LMU Head Coach
Gregg Murphy enters his eighth year at the helm of the LMU women's soccer program. Under Murphy the Lions have enjoyed unprecedented success, posting winning seasons in all but two of his years in Westchester and making their first ever postseason appearance in 2002. Murphy's record at LMU now stands at 71-51-13, while his career coaching record, which spans 13 seasons, stands at 129-103-17. An outstanding recruiter, Murphy's 2003 class was ranked 10th best in the West Region and 39th nationally by SoccerBuzz magazine. Murphy is a 1986 graduate of Chapman University.
Lions On The Web
Can't make it to a game? Not to worry. Now you can follow all the Lions home games and WCC away games live on the internet! Just log on to www.LMULions.com and catch each goal, assist, save and corner kick through the Lions' live stats programs. It's the next best thing to being there, so don't miss it!!
Recap vs. No.10 Washington (Sept. 5)
The Lion women's soccer team played to a 1-1 double overtime tie with No.10 Washington last Friday afternoon in a neutral site game at Colorado College. Sophomore Caroline Dugoni scored her first career as a Lion. UW's Kim Taylor scored from 18 yards out with a little more than 11 minutes remaining in regulation on Friday, earning the Huskies a 1-1 come-from-behind tie with Loyola Marymount in an NCAA Division I women's soccer match at Colorado College's Stewart Field. Dugoni had given the Lions a 1-0 lead at the 59:34 mark before Taylor's goal at 78:51 sent the contest into overtime. Loyola Mayrmount outshot UW, 18-16, overall, with both teams finishing with eight shots on goal.
Recap vs. Boston (Sept. 7)
Freshman midfielder Tana Smothermon scored the first goal of her collegiate career on a breakaway with 15:32 remaining in regulation on Sunday, earning Loyola Marymount University a 1-1 tie with Boston University in NCAA Division I women's soccer action at Colorado College's Stewart Field. It was the second tie of the weekend for the Lions, who also battled the 10th-ranked University of Washington to a 1-1 deadlock on Friday. LMU is 1-1-2 for the season while the Terriers are 0-2-1. BU's Melissa Shulman gave her team the lead, 1-0, just 1:19 into Sunday's match. The goal came off a serve from Emily Dionne that could not be controlled by the Lions goalkeeper Kelly Yukihiro. The lead stood up until Smothermon took a lead pass from senior Jennifer Cefalia, outraced a defender and beat Boston keeper Jessica Clinton low on the left side from 15 yards out.
Greet The Grizzlies
Oakland comes to Sullivan Field with a 2-1-1 overall record and is coming off an 0-2 loss to Marquette. The Grizzlies two wins came against Illinois and Michigan. Oakland has scored just two goals so far this season. Kristi Swaving and Shelly Piccirillo each have a goal for the Grizzlies, while Erica Damers owns Oaklans's only assist of the year. Nick O'Shea has compiled a 115-45-8 record in his 10 years with the Grizzlies. Friday's contest will be the first meeting between Oakland and LMU.
Profiling The Panthers
UW-Milwaukee comes to Southern California looking for its first win of the year with a record of 0-3-1. The Panthers have been shutout of each contest so far, failing to score a goal in all four contests. Kerri St. Aubin and Molly Schneider have split time in goal for UWM. Schneider has collected all three losses having allowed four goals on the year. Michael Moynihan is in his seventh year with the Panthers. He owns a 71-38-17 record with UWM. Sunday's game will be the first time the Lions and Panthers have met.
