June 3, 2004
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Just Briefly
Loyola Marymount made its third consecutive postseason appearance last year and received its first-ever first round bye. After a second round loss to Santa Clara, the Lions ended their season with a record of 12-7-1 overall and 3-3-0 in the WCC.
Up Next
The Lions will open the 2004 season with a trip to the Creighton Tournament Sept. 3 and 5. While in Omaha, Neb., LMU will face Southwest Missouri State and touranment host Creighton. The Lions home schedule kicks off at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 19 when they host UCLA at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. LMU's first game on Sullivan Field is Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 4 p.m.
Two Lions Earn NSCAA Regional Honors
Two Loyola Marymount University men's soccer athletes garnered NSCAA All-Far West Region honors. Senior Michael Erush garnered first-team honors while senior Kevin Novak was named to the second-team. The awards are the first NSCAA postseason awards for both athletes. Erush, a defender from Van Nuys, Calif., finished his career at LMU with six goals, 16 assists and 28 points. His all-time assists total ranks him third in the career record book at LMU while his 28 points puts him ninth on the all-time list. Among his list of accolades this year are: All-West Coast Conference first-team member, a Soccer America National Team of the Week award, the Falcon Invitational Most Outstanding Defender award and a spot on the Falcon Invitational all-tournament team. Erush's seven assists on the year tied for the team lead and tied for third best in the West Coast Conference.
Novak, a midfielder from Huntington Beach, Calif., earned his first-ever NSCAA award for his stellar offensive performance. He finished the year as the Lions' leading scorer with nine goals and 19 points despite sitting out the last six games with a knee injury. Novak garnered All-WCC honorable mention accolades for his performance in the first half of the season. He also received LMU Fall Classic and Falcon Invitational all-tournament awards, WCC Player of the Week and Player of the Month honors, as well as being named to the College Soccer News and Soccer America National Teams of the Week. Novak leaves LMU ranked second in career goals scored (23), third in career points (54) and tied for 10th in career assists (8).
Kalnasy Earns Academic Honor
Junior Shaun Kalnasy was named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic Team as announced by the conference office. Kalnasy, a 6-foot-2 junior from Mercer Island, Wash., played in 17 games and made 15 starts. He boasted a goals against average of just 0.82 as the Lions starting goalkeeper this season. Kalnasy made 82 saves while posting an 11-4-1 record. He collected six shutouts on the year which gives him a share of the LMU single-season shutouts record with Adam Sthay (1999-2003) and Daniel Sheridan (1998-2001). This is the first All-Academic award of Kalnasy's career, he also garnered All-WCC honorable mention accolades for his on the field performance. The business major owns a 3.87 GPA.
Seven Lions Garner All-Conference Honors
Seven student-athletes from the LMU men's soccer team were 2003 All-West Coast Conference selections. Senior Michael Erush and junior Matt Kovar each took home first-team honors. Joining Erush and Kovar as all-conference selections are freshman Junior Ybarra (second-team), freshman Bobby Burling (honorable mention), senior Shaun Kalnasy (honorable mention), senior Kevin Novak (honorable mention) and junior Armando Melendez (honorable mention). The seven selections equals last year's mark for the most in one season for the Lions. Erush and Kovar anchored an LMU defense that was one of the best, allowing just 21 goals (1.05 per game) on the season, ranking third in the WCC. While playing defense, Kovar and Erush had a huge role in the Lions' offense, ranking second and fourth on the team in points with 12 and 11, respectively. Kovar had two goals and eight assists while Erush had two goals and seven assists. In his first season with the Lions, Ybarra was a finalist for freshman of the year honors and took home second-team accolades for his seven assists on the season. He played in 17 of the 19 games and played his best soccer down the stretch. Four Lions finished with honorable mention honors, including Novak, who finished leading the Lions in goals with nine. Novak was having a Player of the Year type season, leading the conference in goals all year until suffering a season-ending knee injury against Saint Mary's. Despite missing the last five games of the season, Novak still ranks second in the WCC with 19 points, second with nine goals and first with 1.36 points per game. In goal for the Lions for the majority of the season was Kalnasy. He appeared in 16 games this season, posting an impressive 0.81 goals against average and six shutouts. His GAA and shutout total ranked third in the WCC while his 74 saves was second in the WCC. Also in his first season from Monument, Colo., was Burling. The freshman started every game for the Lions and was tied with Erush with 11 points on the season. He had three goals, including a game winner, to go with five assists. Melendez joined Burling with three goals on the season and finished with nine points as he joins Burling on the honorable mention list.
Pair Of Seniors Named All-Anerica
Senior Kevin Novak was chosen as an honorable mention All-American by SoccerTimes.com and senior Michael Erush was chosen first-team All-American by the Jewish Sports Review. In addition to the All-American selection, Novak was a second-team NSCAA All-Region team selection and an honorable mention All-West Coast Conference selection.
Erush's all-time assists total ranks him third in the career record book at LMU while his 28 points puts him ninth on the all-time list. Among his list of accolades this year are: All-West Coast Conference first-team member, a Soccer America National Team of the Week award, the Falcon Invitational Most Outstanding Defender award and a spot on the Falcon Invitational all-tournament team. Erush's seven assists on the year tied for the team lead and tied for third best in the West Coast Conference. The SoccerTimes.com All-Americans are selected by a coaches voting panel consisting of: Louis Bennett, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Mark Berson, South Carolina; Sasho Cirovski, Maryland; Ian Collins, Kentucky; Dan Donigan, Saint Louis; Mike Getman, Alabama-Birmingham; Kevin Grimes, California; Schellas Hyndman, Southern Methodist; Paul Krumpe, Loyola Marymount; Ken Lolla, Akron; Al Mistri, California State-Fullerton; Bob Reasso, Rutgers; Ray Reid, Connecticut; John Rennie, Duke; Keith Tabatznik, Georgetown; Bob Warming, Creighton; Jerry Yeagley, Indiana.
Erush Moves Up In Record Book
Senior defender Michael Erush collected a total of 16 career assists as a Lion. That total gives him sole possession of third place on LMU's all-time assists chart. He is just one assists shy of the No.2 spot and six shy of the record (22) held by former Lion and current MLS Galaxy member Arturo Torres (1999-02). The Lion captain has also moved into a tie for third on LMU's single-season chart.
Krumpe Reaches Milestone
The 4-1 victory over UC Irvine on Sept. 12 gave Head Coach Paul Krumpe the 50th win of his career. Krumpe's 50 wins is not only the most by any coach in six years at LMU, but also the most wins in LMU men's soccer history.
Lions In The Rankings
The Lions have fallen out of NSCAA/adidas Division I Men's Top-25 Poll for the second time this season. LMU is ranked No.23 by SoccerTimes.com and receiving votes from College Soccer News.
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!!
LMU Head Coach
Paul Krumpe will be entering his seventh season at the helm of the LMU men's soccer program in 2004. He led the Lions to their third-straight invitation to the NCAA College Cup Tournament in 2003, their first trip with a first-round bye. The 1999 WCC Coach of the Year, led the team to its most successful season in program history in 2002, establishing a new LMU men's soccer record for single-season wins (15-4-2). A 1986 graduate of UCLA, Krumpe came to LMU after spending three-seasons as an assistant with the Bruins. During those seasons, he helped lead UCLA to a record of 56-9-1, three NCAA regional appearances, three Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles and a national championship in 1997. As a player for UCLA, Krumpe was a four-year starter (1982-85), co-captain of the 1985 NCAA Championship team and a two-time All-Far West Region selection. He also has extensive international experience, playing in over 40 games with Team USA including the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Recap vs. Santa Clara (Nov. 26)
The Loyola Marymount University men's soccer team fell, 1-0, in overtime to No.6 Santa Clara in Round 2 of the NCAA College Cup in front of a crowd of 725 at Sullivan Field on Wednesday afternoon. Freshman Junior Ybarra and sophomore Joe Stoakley led the Lions with two shots each.
It was the second time in two weeks that LMU (12-7-1) and Santa Clara (14-3-4) had met. The Lions defeated the Broncos, 3-0, in the regular season finale for both teams at Sullivan Field on Nov. 15.
The battle was on early as a total of 12 fouls were called in the first 20 minutes of play. SCU went on the board first with shots by Kelechi Igwe and Ryan Purtell. Igwe's shot was blocked by an LMU defender while Purtell's shot was deflected by Lion goalkeeper Shaun Kalnasy. It was the first of eight saves in the game for Kalnasy.
Senior Pat Parker took the first shot of the afternoon for the Lions. Parker's attempt from about 20 yards out sailed just high. It was one of four shots for LMU in the first half. Ybarra nearly put the Lions ahead with his first attempt of the day. Wide open at the top of the 18-yard, Ybarra took a pass from the left side, squared off and drilled a shot at the Broncos net which missed wide right by inches. Ybarra's second shot of the day also came from the top of the box, was dead center but hit the crossbar and bounced down and out of the plane of the goal. The ball was cleared by Santa Clara and resulted in one of five first half corner kicks for the Lions.
Both teams were evenly matched at the halftime break tied 4-4 in shots and 5-5 in corner kick opportunities. The Broncos came out aggressively in the second half. Jason Cunliffe and Will Weatherly each made attempts at the Lion net in the first five minutes. Cunliffe's shot sailed high while Weatherly's attempt resulted in another Kalnasy save.
The physical play continued throughout the remainder of the second half. Each team collected two yellow cards in the second 45 minutes of play. Cautions were issued to Zach Knight and Cunliffe for the Broncos and Parker and Yuji Teranishi for the Lions.
Defense came up big for both teams as regulation ended in 0-0 tie with things to be decided in overtime. Senior Michael Erush took the only overtime shot for LMU which went high. The Lions earned just one corner kick opportunity in the extra period.
SCU had just one more corner kick chance than did LMU, but it was all they needed. Matt Upton got his head on a corner kick pass and flicked a ball which hit the crossbar and deflected back out in front of the goal. Eric Irvine made his way through a group of players to find the ball and the back of the net for the game-winning goal.
"It was a hard fought battle," commented LMU Head Coach Paul Krumpe. "I'm proud of the effort our team showed today and proud that a West Coast Conference team will move on to the third round. Obviously, I wish it was us, but we wish them (Santa Clara) nothing but luck. It was such an evenly matched game that could have gone either way. Unfortunately for us, it went their way and not ours."
Four WCC Teams Made Tourny Run
The West Coast Conference placed four teams into the 2003 NCAA tournament last season. Along with the Pac-10, the WCC's four bids were the third most for any conference as the Big East and ACC each got in five teams. Santa Clara and Portland advanced after first round wins while San Diego and Loyola Marymount received first round byes.
Lions In The Postseason
The Lions made their third straight postseason appearance this year. Head Coach Paul Krumpe led LMU to its first ever NCAA College Cup game in 2001. Since then the Lions are 1-3 in postseason competition. LMU lost to UCLA, 3-2, in double overtime in their first postseason game in program history. In 2002, the Lions claimed their first ever postseason win with a 1-0 shutout of Cal State Northridge in Round 1 of the 2002 College Cup. LMU then dropped a 4-2 decision in the second round of the tournament to the eventual 2002 National Champion UCLA Bruins. Last year, the Lions received a first-round bye before dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in overtime to the Santa Clara Broncos.
