Dec. 2, 2004

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Just Briefly
The eighth-ranked Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team defended their Western Water Polo Association Championship thanks to a 6-3 over Redlands in the 2004 WWPA title game. With the back-to-back titles, the Lions advance to the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship for the third time in four seasons and will take on host Stanford on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 3:30 p.m. The Lions are the fourth seed while top-ranked Stanford is the one seed, UCLA the two seed and Princeton the three-seed.

The NCAAs
This year's NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship is hosted by Stanford University and will be held December 4-5 at the Avery Aquatics Complex. In the first game, No. 1 Stanford (22-4) takes on the eighth-ranked Lions (20-10) followed by second-ranked UCLA (23-3) playing 10th-ranked Princeton University (25-4). Game times are 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific time respectively on December 4. The third-place game will be played at 12:30 p.m. on December 5 with the championship game at 2:00 p.m. The national championship match will be televised live on CSTV. Conferences receiving automatic qualification were: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (Stanford), the Collegiate Water Polo Association (Princeton) and the Western Water Polo Association (LMU). UCLA, the top-ranked team for most of the season who lost to Stanford in the MPSF final on Sunday, was selected at-large without geographical restrictions. This is the third trip in the last four seasons to the NCAA Tournament for the Lions, who have finished third in the two previous trips in 2001 and 2003. In 2001 the Lions lost to third-ranked UCLA 7-5 and then defeated 16th-ranked UMass 14-6 in the third-place game. Last season the Lions lost to second-ranked Stanford 14-8 but rebounded for a 10-7 win over 11th-ranked Navy.

Against the Field
The Lions will see a couple familiar foes in this year's NCAA Championship. The Lions have faced UCLA 13 times and Stanford eight times since the first season in 1986. The Lions will be looking for their first career win against these two water polo powers. The Lions have faced just UCLA this season, falling 15-7 on Oct. 9. In 2003 the Lions lost a pair of one-goal heartbreakers to the Bruins, falling 504 on Sept. 21, 2003 and then 7-6 in overtime at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Nov. 6, 2003. The last meeting against Stanford was last year's NCAA Semifinal. As for Princeton, the Lions have faced them twice, falling 13-11 on Oct. 17, 1997 and then winning 9-8 in overtime on Sept. 17, 2000.

Season Recap
Despite the loss of four crucial seniors from last season's Western Water Polo Association championship squad, the Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team in 2004 responded with one of its better regular seasons in the successful history of LMU water polo program to defend their title. The Lions enter the 2004 NCAA tournament with a 20-10 record, two wins shy of the school mark set in 1999 with at 22-9. The Lions have earned some impressive wins to its resume this season, knocking off 14 teams ranked in the nation's top-20, including two wins over No. 6 Pepperdine, two wins over No. 5 UC Irvine and for the first time in program history a win at UC San Diego, who was No. 6 at the time. Of the Lions 27 games this season, 24 have come against ranked opponents, going 14-10 in those games. Offensively the Lions have been paced by junior Endre Rex-Kiss, who enters the WWPA tournament with 76 goals this season. He is the first player since the two-point goal was removed from competition to earn more than 70 goals in one season. He scored in all but two games this season and has five five-goal games. In addition to Rex-Kiss, the Lions have a balanced attack behind him with nine players scoring 10 or more goals this season. Senior Sean Wimer has had the best season of his career with 26 goals and junior transfer Brian McShane adds 27. Defensively, goalie Ian Elliott is showing why he was a first-team All-WWPA selection a year ago. The sophomore set a career-high with 17 saves in the win over Air Force and has had 11 games with 10 or more saves.

Back-to-Back
Brian McShane's two second-half goals and goalkeeper Ian Elliott's six fourth-quarter saves helped lift Loyola Marymount to a 6-3 victory over Redlands in the championship game of the 2004 Western Water Polo Association tournament at Schaal Aquatics Center Saturday, Nov. 20. The win gives the Lions their second consecutive conference championship and third in four years. In addition, the Lions earn the WWPA's automatic-qualifying berth in the National Collegiate Championships, held at Stanford University in December. The Bulldogs took an early 2-0 lead on goals by Sam Barker and Grant Culton. The Lions would cut the lead in half when Cutberto Hernandez scored with 4:21 remaining in the half. Then midway through the second quarter, Endre Rex-Kiss converted a four-meter penalty shot to tie the game at 2-2. Senior Trevor Wagner gave the Lions their first lead when he scored on a rebound and putback with 2:39 remaining on an extra-man goal. Both teams locked into a defensive battle for the remainder of the half, as the Lions held its 3-2 lead into the break. Redlands' Spencer Dinnean re-tied the game at 3-3 with his 6-on-5 goal at the 5:22 mark in the third. McShane answered back about a minute later, giving the Lions the lead for good. LMU shut down Redlands offense in the fourth quarter, helped by Elliott's heroics in nets and a fine steal at four-meters by Rex-Kiss. McShane and Sean Wimer helped the Lions pull away to the final margin.

3 and Overtime
The Lions played in just three overtime games on the season, two coming in the WWPA tournament. The Lions finished 3-0 in extra-frame contests, defeating No. 7 Long Beach State, 8-7, No. 17 Whittier, 12-11, and No. 13 UC Davis, 7-6. The wins over Whittier and UC Davis helped the Lions advance to the WWPA title game. The Lions needed overtime goals from Ben Easton and Sean Wimer to rally for a 12-11 victory over No.7 seed Whittier in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Water Polo Association Men's Championships. Then, LMU showed they are the cardiac kids of this year's tournament with their second straight overtime win in sudden-victory overtime. Endre Rex-Kiss scored in the sudden-victory overtime period to give the Lions another come-from-behind victory to advance to a fifth championship game. Rex-Kiss was sitting at two-meter when senior Sean Wimer's shot was deflected and hit the cross bar. The ball fell near Rex-Kiss, who grabbed it and fired it home. It was the junior's only goal of the game. It was the eighth win of the season the Lions erased a second half deficit.

Award Winners
In case you missed it, the Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team added individual awards to their second straight Western Water Polo Association Championship. Junior Endre Rex-Kiss highlighted the honors, taking home WWPA Player of the Year honors. In addition to his MVP honor, Rex-Kiss was named first-team All-WWPA. Joining him on that list for the second straight season was goalie Ian Elliott. The sophomore earned first-team honors in net his freshman season a year ago. Making their first trip to the All-WWPA lists is senior Sean Wimer, whose 27 goals was third on the team, was named second-team and sophomore transfer Brian McShane was named honorable mention.

An Impact Transfer
As for sophomore Brian McShane, he made his presence felt in his first year at LMU. In addition to his 29 goals, second on the squad, McShane anchored the two-meter spot for the Lions. He drew 79 kickouts on the season and had 18 steals. McShane got hot to end the season for the Lions, scoring six goals in the WWPA tournament and a goal in the final 10 games. In that span he had 15 goals. He transferred from Air Force last season.

Stopper
Sophomore goalie Ian Elliott showed why he is one of the nation's best by leading the Lions to another WWPA title. Elliott made huge saves late in the season for the Lions, posting 242 saves on the year with just 183 goals against. His goals against average is 6.971 on the season. He has 12 games with 10 or more saves, including 10 in the win over Redlands in the WWPA title game. In that contest, he made six saves in the fourth quarter to protect the lead. He had a career-high 17 saves in the win over Air Force on Nov. 6 and had 15 more in the win over UC Davis on Oct. 30. In a stretch of seven games from Oct. 24-Nov. 6, he made 83 saves.

Senior Day
The NCAA tournament will be the final games for seniors Tyler Swanson, Pat Reilly, Trevor Wagner and Sean Wimer as well as the final games for redshirt juniors Rob Beech and Nick Oster. Entering the NCAA tournament, Wimer has been having the best season of his career as he sits third on the squad with 27 goals, 11 assists and 16 steals. Wimer had the season of his career, doubling his career numbers in goals (27), assists (11), kick-outs drawn (19) and steals (16). Wimer scored a goal in every game of the WWPA tournament and finished the season scoring a goal in eight of the final nine games for the Lions. Swanson is also having a record year, scoring a career-best 11 goals this season. He now has 23 in his career. Wagner is the leader of the group, playing in a team-best 103 games in four seasons at LMU. The games this season put him in the top-10 all-time for games played in LMU history. He has 29 career goal, 67 steals and 35 assists. Reilly has played in 80 games while at LMU, scoring 18 goals in three seasons at LMU. Oster, who redshirted two season ago, has scored 15 goals this season, giving him 23 for his career. His 87 kick-outs drawn is the most on the team for a career, sitting second on the squad this season with 50. Rounding out the group is Beech, playing in 52 games in three seasons. He has scored four goals with eight steals and five assists. All told, this group of seniors have played in 452 games together.

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 became the first player in the non-two point goal era (two-point goals were eliminated in 2000) to score 70 goals in one season. Rex-Kiss has scored 76 goals, including a personal best five goals against Iona (9-4-04), Santa Clara (9-10-04), Air Force (9-18-04), UCLA (10/9/04) and UC Santa Cruz (10-30-04). He leads the team in scoring and attempts with 165, earning a shooting percentage of 46.1. He has scored 35 extra-man goals and has earned 28 assists, both team highs. He has scored three or more goals in 14 of the 30 games. After scoring 10 goals last week, Rex-Kiss now sits fourth all-time in LMU history with 178 career goals. He is also fifth with 76 assists and fifth with 94 steals.

In Bunches
The Lions have nine guys who have more than 10 goals this season, giving the Lions a balanced supporting cast behind Endre Rex-Kiss, one of the nation's leading scorers with 76 on the year. LMU is getting offensive support from Brian McShane (29), Sean Wimer (27 goals), Scott Marshall (18), Ben Easton (17), Nick Oster (15), Matt Reynolds (15), Cutberto Hernandez (15), and Tyler Swanson (11).

The Coach
In the past seven years, Head Coach John Loughran has been going about his business in developing the Loyola Marymount water polo programs (both the men and women) into one of the nation's best. In the men's water polo win over UC San Diego on Oct. 15, Loughran recorded his 200th career win as a men's water polo coach at the collegiate level. Loughran now has 133 wins at LMU to go with the 75 he earned while at Queens College in New York. Loughran has won six conference titles in his time at LMU, taking four straight for the women's team and two in the last three years for the men. The men's team continues to climb the national rankings and will probably move into sixth when the latest poll is released on Wednesday, Oct. 20. As for the women, Loughran has led that team to four straight NCAA appearances, including the University's first ever shot at a national title and the best end-of-the-year ranking at Number 2. He has led the Lions to back-to-back conference titles, earning a win over UC San Diego in 2003 and Redlands in 2004. In 2001, they won their first-ever WWPA championship, going 15-14 overall, and earning a bid to the NCAA Championship. That team also finished third after a win over UMass. Adding to his impressive resume, Loughran has won six WWPA Coach of the Year honors, four in women's water polo (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) and two in men's water polo (2001, 2003). He has posted an overall record of 133-104 (.561) for the men's team in seven-plus seasons, ranking him as the program's all-time winningest coach. He has also earned a record of 139-70 (.664) with the women's water polo program.

The 2003 WWPA Championship
In a season that saw the Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team drop by ways of the heartbreaker one too many times, the end of the Western Water Polo Championships will serve as a quick eraser as the Lions won when it mattered most. The eighth-ranked Lions claimed a 6-5 win over seventh-ranked UC San Diego in the championship game of the Western Water Polo Championships on Friday night at Redlands University. With the win, the Lions win their second conference championship in the last three years. It was a fitting reversal of fortunes for the Lions. In the regular season the Lions were on the wrong end of heartbreakers all season, losing 10 of their 14 games by one-goal or in overtime. All 10 of those games came against teams ranked in the top-20 nationally, including two games at the hands of the Tritons. When it mattered most, the Lions answered the call. Senior Sean Wimer would score the game winner with 4:44 left.

2003 Postseason Honors
At the end of the WWPA Championships, the Lions had four players named WWPA All-Conference. Freshman goalie Ian Elliott was the difference in the final two minutes of the championship game against UC San Diego to help lift LMU to the win. He was named first-team All-WWPA following the contest. Also earning All-WWPA first-team honors was senior Ryan Chapatte, his second consecutive first-team honor. Earning second team honors was senior Tamas Szego, his second time earning All-WWPA honors, earning honorable mention honors in 2001. Earning honorable mention honors this season went to sophomore Endre Rex-Kiss which is a follow-up to his second-team honors in 2002. In addition, Head Coach John Loughran earned his second Coach of the Year honors.

Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center
The Loyola Marymount University athletic department welcomed the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center to its family of sports facilities in August of 2000. The Olympic size pool is part of the $20-million Burns Rec Center and serves as the home venue for men's and women's water polo as well as LMU swim meets. Showing that it is one of the finest facilities in the country, LMU hosted the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship on December 7-8, 2002. Both days of the event were sold out with a crowd of more than 2,600 for the championship. One of the premier aquatics facilities in Southern California, the Burns recreation center pool is heated and features an advanced deck-level drainage system. There are separate locker rooms for home and visiting teams as well as office space and meeting rooms for the LMU aquatics' coaching staff. Adjacent to the pool is permanent bleacher seating with a normal capacity for 800 fans. Added to the facility in the fall of 2001 was a state-of-the-art scoreboard. The scoreboard from Colorado Timing Systems features scoring systems for both water polo and swimming, including the touch-pad timing for eight swim lanes. The fully digital system includes matrix and video capabilities and was installed thanks to the donations of Albert Gersten. In addition, a new audio system was installed prior to the start of the 2002 water polo season. In three years at the facility, the two water polo programs have posted impressive records. The men's program has compiled a 41-17 record in Burns the past five seasons, going 6-3 in 2004. All-time, the Lions have a winning percentage of .706. The women's team won their first 21 games at the Burns Aquatics Center and have posted a 38-6 record (.864) in four seasons. Overall, the two teams have combined for a 73-20 (.785) record.

Men's Water Polo Year-by-Year Records
Season 	W 	L 	Avg.
2000  	10  	2  	.833
2001  	10 	4  	.714
2002 	9  	4  	.693
2003  	6  	4  	.600
2004	6	3	.667
Totals 	41	17	.706

- GO LIONS -