Nov. 19, 2005

Los Angeles, CA (Nov. 19) - The 2005 Western Water Polo Association Men's Championship game will not be anything new. The second-seed, Loyola Marymount, finds themselves in the WWPA title game for the sixth consecutive year, winning three of the last four. Their opponent, top-seed UC San Diego, have been there five of the last six championship games. They will meet once again in the 2005 title match on Saturday, 3:00 p.m. at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on the campus of LMU.

This will be the rubber match for what has turned into quite a rivalry in collegiate men's water polo. The series between LMU and UCSD is 2-2 in title games, with LMU winning in 2001 and 2003 and UCSD winning in 2000 and 2002. LMU defeated Redlands in last year's title game.

"This has turned into one of the best rivalries in all of college water polo," said LMU's Head Coach John Loughran. "Anytime we play each other it is a heated, well played match-up. The title game brings a heightened level of play and it is very exciting water polo."

Since the 2000 WWPA Championships in Hawaii, LMU has a record of 15-2 heading into Saturday's title game. UCSD has a record of 14-3 in that span. The two teams have played each other twice this season with the seventh-ranked Tritons winning both by two goals, 7-5 in La Jolla on Sept. 23 and 9-7 on Oct. 29 at the Burns Center.

This will be the 31st meeting overall between the two programs. Since the teams first met in a WWPA championship in 2000, the games have been decided by an average of 1.5 goals per meeting, with the largest margin of victory being an 8-4 win by LMU in La Jolla a year ago.

"We have faced UC San Diego four times in the title game, with each winning two. This is the rubber match," said Loughran. "This will be a very exciting match in our home pool. Our goal is to keep improving every time we play and we have been doing that."

The Lions are coming off what Loughran thought was one of their best games of the season, defeating UC Davis 9-6 in the semifinals. "That was perhaps our best game of the season. It was good to see us put together four solid quarters." LMU also defeated Santa Clara 8-5 in the quarterfinals. UC San Diego's path saw them defeat Whittier 13-9 in the quarterfinals and then Redlands 9-3 in the semifinals.

The winner of the WWPA Championship earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship hosted by Bucknell in two weeks.

- GO LIONS -