Oct. 7, 2004

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Just Briefly
Using an 8-6 win over fifth-ranked UC Irvine, the eighth-ranked Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team (10-4) placed seventh at the 2004 NorCal Tournament, the best finish in school history. The Lions will return home to face 13th-ranked Western Water Polo Association foe BYU-Hawaii on Thursday, Oct. 7 before traveling to top-ranked UCLA on Saturday, Oct. 9.

Out of the Gates
With their second straight win over Pepperdine on Friday, Oct. 2, the Lions improved to 9-2 overall, the best start to any season in program history. The Lions have done it against some of the best teams in the nation, facing seven straight teams ranked in the top-10. Of the Lions 14 games, 11 have come against teams in the nation's top-20. In those games the Lions have gone 7-4, winning six of their last eight against ranked opponents. The Lions are in store for more as they take on 13th-ranked BYU-Hawaii, top-ranked UCLA on Saturday and sixth-ranked UC San Diego on the road on Oct. 15.

Coming Up
The Lions will take on BYU-Hawaii of the Western Water Polo Association on Thursday at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The Seasiders have been climbing into the national rankings the last several years and have been in the WWPA semifinals the last two years. BYU-Hawaii enters the game ranked 13th in the nation with a record of 5-1. Two days following the match against the Seasiders, the Lions will travel to UCLA to take on the newly crowned number one team in the nation. The Bruins won the NorCal Tournament last weekend to jump from fourth to first in this week's national poll. With the four wins over the weekend UCLA improved to 10-2 on the year.

NorCal Tournament
The Lions took seventh place in the 2004 NorCal tournament, the best finish in program history. The Lions defeated ninth-ranked Pepperdine and fifth-ranked UC Irvine, while falling to third-ranked Cal and sixth-ranked UCSD. Game #1: LMU 6, Pepperdine 5 - Sophomore Ben Easton scored with 55 second remaining in regulation to lift the LMU to a 6-5 win over Pepperdine in the Northern California Men's Water Polo Tournament at the University of the Pacific on Saturday morning. The seventh-ranked Lions improve to a program best 9-2 record on the season, the best start in school history for the team. It is also the first time the Lions have won back-to-back games against the 9th ranked Waves as they defeated their rivals 12-9 a week ago at LMU. Pepperdine falls to 4-5. Like they did a week ago, the Lions jumped out to a multi-goal lead. LMU struck first with an extra-man goal by Endre Rex-Kiss and then stretched the lead to 3-1 at the half on goals by Brian McShane and Nick Oster. After a Pepperdine goal to start the third quarter, the Lions earned back-to-back goals to go up 5-2 early in the fourth quarter on goals by Matt Reynolds and Scott Marshall. However, in a repeat of last week's game, Pepperdine fought back and tied the contest at 5-5 on a goal by Grant Miller with 1:26 remaining. Easton would then get a pass from Sean Wimer to score the game winner on a man-advantage. The Lions used the extra-man attack to their advantage, scoring five of their six goals on the extra attack. Game #2: Cal 8, LMU 4 - LMU had 12 extra-man attack opportunities and could only capitalize on four of them as they fall to Cal 8-4 in the evening session. The Lions went 2-for-8 in extra-man attacks in the first half to fall down 5-2 and could not recover. The setback snaps the Lions five-game winning streak as they drop to 9-3 on the season. Cal jumped to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter in a sloppy first half. LMU played Cal even in the second as both teams scored a pair of goals in the second to send the game to halftime at a score of 5-2. In the second Tyler Swanson and Nick Oster each scored on the extra-man attacks. Cal pushed their lead to five with a 3-to-1 edge in the third quarter. Swanson gave the Lions their only goal in the frame. LMU would add a goal by Endre Rex-Kiss for the final. Game #3 - UCSD 8, LMU 7 - In the first game of the day the Lions mounted another major come-back, overcoming a 5-1 deficit to tie the game at 7-7 with 27 seconds left on Nick Oster's second goal of the final quarter. However, UC San Diego answered with nine second remaining on the fourth goal by Brett Eichholz. The sixth-ranked Tritons took a 5-1 lead at the break thanks to five unanswered goals in the second quarter and kept the four goal lead late in the third quarter at 7-3. Showing once again they won't go away, the Lions out tie the game in the fourth with four unanswered goals. Rex-Kiss had two goals in the game, as did the senior Oster. Also scoring for the Lions was freshman Nik Barr, sophomore Ben Easton and senior Sean Wimer. Game #4 - LMU 8, UC Irvine 6 - With little time to recover, the Lions came through in the final game as they once again showed they are second half team. Trailing 4-3 at the break, the Lions outscored UC Irvine 5-2 in the final half, including the games final four goals. Trailing 6-4 with 6 seconds remaining, Sean Wimer scored his first goal to cut the lead to 6-5 heading into the final frame. Just 57 seconds into the period the Lions tied the game on Wimer's second goal. Then Scott Marshall scored the eventual game winner with 4:13 remaining on an extra-man attack. Wimer would earn the hat-trick to give the Lions a two-goal cushion with 1:03 remaining for the win. Goalie Ian Elliott had 10 saves in the win, giving him 31 saves in the four-game tournament.

Explosion
Junior Endre Rex-Kiss entered the 2004 season as the Lions' main offensive returning threat from the WWPA title run in 2003. He has lived up to the billing in a big way. Rex-Kiss has scored 40 goals, including a personal best five goals against Iona (9-4-04), Santa Clara (9-10-04) and Air Force (9-18-04). He leads the team in scoring and attempts with 80, earning a shooting percentage of 50.0. He has scored 16 extra-man goals and has earned 17 assists, both team highs. He has scored three or more goals in eight of the 14 games and is on pace to become the first player in LMU history to score more than 70 points in the non-two point goal era (two-point goals were eliminated in 2000). More Stats: He leads the team in steals with 17. After Rex-Kiss now sits ninth all-time in LMU history with 142 career goals. He is also fifth with 64 assists and eighth with 80 steals.

Senior Leaders
Senior Sean Wimer was asked to be one of the leaders on this year's team and he has responded with one of his best seasons to date. He has played in every game so far this season and has already surpassed his career high with 15 goals, which is second on the team this season. His 10 assists already this season is a personal best and his 10 kick-outs drawn sets a career high. Also having an impressive senior season is Tyler Swanson. The fourth-year payer from El Segundo High School had a career game in the win over Pepperdine. He earned just his second hat-trick of his career to give him six goals on the season. He has also played all 14 games for the Lions.

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