April 27, 2005
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Briefly
The 2005 Western Water Polo Association tournament will begin in Davis, Calif., on Friday, April 29 and sixth-ranked Loyola Marymount will look to earn their fifth straight championship as the number one seed. The Lions went 12-0 this season against WWPA foes but will have their work cut out for the them as host and 14th-ranked UC Davis is the number two seed and fellow WWPA rival and 17th-ranked UC San Diego is the three seed.
WWPA Tournament
At 25-6 overall, the Lions will be the number one seed and will take on the winner of the 8/9 game at 5:30 p.m. The eighth seed is Cal State East Bay (Hayward) and the nine seed is Chapman. In the last four title runs, the Lions have faced off against UC San Diego the last three championship games and then UC Davis in the first championship appearance in 2001. The host Aggies earned the number two seed while the Tritons are the number three seed. The Lions have defeated both teams twice this season and are 9-3 all-time against the Aggies and 13-7 against the Tritons, winning 13 straight. LMU enters the tournament 4-0 all-time against Cal State East Bay and 3-0 all-time against Chapman. Play in the WWPA tournament begins at 8:45 a.m. with the No. 5 seed taking on the No. 12 seed.
Regulation Final
UCSB 5, LMU 4 (SDOT) - Loyola Marymount's Lindsay O'Farriell scored with less than a minute to play in regulation to force overtime but the Lions fall in sudden-death to ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 5-4, in the final regular season game of the season on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore goalie Rachel Riddell was impressive in goal, making 17 saves. Thirty seconds into the sudden-death overtime period, freshman Lindsay Knott drew an exclusion on the Lion's goalie forcing an LMU field player to defend the goal. The Gauchos made several passes before Zizi Clark scored the game-winning goal for UCSB. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter of play, Gaucho Zizi Clark drew a four-meter penalty. Katy Kunkel took the penalty shot and scored, tying the game up at 2-2. Following a Lion ejection, Alaina Whitaker penetrated in from the perimeter and slammed the ball into LMU's cage giving UCSB a one-point lead. As the clock began to wind down on the final minute of play, O'Farriell scored her second goal of the game tying the score at 3-3. In the first three-minute overtime period Lion Christine Robinson shot and scored to give LMU a one-point lead at the 1:59 mark. As the clock ticked down on a Gaucho possession, two-meter player Lindsay Llewellyn shot a backhand that landed in the bottom right corner of the Lion's goal once again tying the score at 4-4. The second overtime period left both teams scoreless as Christy Medigovich knocked down one potential LMU goal and Rachel Riddell posted two blocks for the Lions. LMU 11, UCI 5 - The sixth-ranked Loyola Marymount University women's water polo team did not take long to equal the program's win record they set just a year ago as they earned a 11-5 win over No. 12 UC Irvine on Wednesday night at the Anteater Aquatics Complex. With the win, the Lions improve to 25-5 on the season, tying the record for wins in a season they set in 2004 when they advanced to the NCAA National Championship game. The Lions jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first period thanks to a pair of goals from freshman Christine Robinson, who finished the game with three goals. Senior Jessica Conner opened the scoring more than a minute into the game as the Lions scored the game's first three goals. After the Anteaters made the score 3-1 to end the first, junior Stacia Peterson scored the first of her three goals 40 seconds into the second period to make it 4-1. UC Irvine would score two unanswered to cut the lead to just one, 4-3, with 1:53 remaining in the half. Sophomore Katie Hicks put the lead back to a pair with 1:11 remaining on an extra-man goal. The Anteaters would get no closer. Hicks finished with two goals and freshman Daisy Fish and Lindsey O'Farriell also added one goal each.
Putting Up Numbers
In the last two tournaments of the 2005 regular season, the Lions outscored their opponents 106-17. The 60 goals in four games at the LMU Invitational moved the Lions up the national standings as they improved their goals per game average by over a goal, going from an average of 9.1 per game to 10.1 two weeks ago. They enter the WWPA tournament scoring 10.0 goals per game, ranked fifth in the nation. In contrast, the Lions held their opponents to just 17 goals the last two tournaments, dropping the average from 5.6 goals allowed per game to 4.6. They went from eighth in the nation to third entering last week's games. They enter the WWPAs ranked third in the nation while allowing 4.7 goals per game.
In the Rankings
LMU remained ranked sixth in the Top-20 poll released on April 27 as they went from seventh to sixth in the March 23 poll. They are tied with UC Santa Barbara with 71 points. The Lions started the season ranked fourth in the nation, its highest preseason ranking in school history. The preseason ranking follows the Lions No. 2 ranking to end the 2004 season. The number two ranking was the highest final ranking by any team in LMU history. The Lions started the 2004 season ranked fifth nationally and closed the season by winning 20 of their last 22 games to close the regular season at No. 5. The win over Stanford in the semifinals and strong showing in the championship game pushed the Lions to the highest final ranking for any team in LMU history at number two. The Lions finished with 93 points in the final poll by the American Water Polo Coaches Association. They have been in the national rankings every week since 2001.
Going For Six
It was quite the return for sophomore Katie Hicks. The second-year player from San Luis Obispo sat out the 2004 season and her first weekend of action back on the Lions' roster was a big one. Hicks scored six goals in an impressive 10-7 win over fifth-ranked Long Beach State on Feb. 6. The six tallies ties the single game record set by Cara Schindler on March 7, 1998 in a 14-0 win over Chapman. Schindler set the record in the very first season of collegiate water polo at LMU. Over the years there have been five goals scored in 14 games, including one by junior Stacia Peterson last week in the win over Cal State San Bernardino. Peterson has scored five goals in a game five times, the most in program history.
Top Notch Scorers
Despite the loss of four key seniors, the Lions return their top two scorers from the last two seasons. Junior Stacia Peterson led the Lions to the NCAA title game last season with 62 goals, the second most in a single season in program history. Sophomore Katie Hicks led the team with 54 in 2003, giving the Lions a pair of 50-goal scorers in their arsenal. After scoring 30 goals during the Lions 13-game win streak, Peterson has 59 goals this season to lead the team and rank third all-time in a single season. She is ranked 18th in the nation. Her three goals last week moved her to third all-time in LMU history with 138, just two behind Teresa Guidi. Second on the team this season is Hicks with 46 and is eighth all-time in LMU history with 100 goals. Christine Robinson follows the top-two in third with 39. Fellow freshman Rosanna Tomiuk is fourth on the squad with 34, scoring six last week. Jessica Conner, the only four-year senior on the squad, has also seen her share of goals in the last four seasons, scoring 24 on the season and ranking sixth all-time with 103 goals.
Show Stopper
Sophomore Rachel Riddell, who while playing goalie earned a win in the 2004 Olympics for Team Canada over the United States, has started to show why she is an Olympian. She was the difference in the wins at the Davis Shootout, making 43 saves in four games while allowing just six goals, and equalling a career-high with 17 against UC Santa Barbara. She has now made 266 saves this season to rank fifth in the nation in saves. Riddell now has 587 saves and a goals against average of 4.09 while at LMU.
More Goals
This season the Lions have scored 309 goals in 31 games, good for 9.97 per game. The total goals breaks last year's total of 283, which they did in 31 games. The last two season the Lions had two goal scorers reach the top-10 in single season scoring. Last year Stacia Peterson ranked second all-time 62 and was joined by Devon Wright with 55. In 2003, Katie Hicks ranked 8th with 53 and Wright was 9th with 46. This season, Hicks joined Peterson in the top-10 this season at 10th with 46. Peterson is already ranked third with 59 goals.
A First For Everything
The championship game appearance in last year's NCAA Women's Water Polo Tournament was the first time any LMU team in more than 90 years of intercollegiate sports played in a title game sponsored by the NCAA. The Lions have claimed a pair of women's crew national championships, both coming in the Varsity Four races in 1981 and 1986. In addition, the win over No. 2 ranked Stanford in the NCAA Semifinals was just the third time in any sport an LMU team has defeated a team ranked second nationally. Water polo joins baseball as the only teams to knock of a No. 2, as the baseball team did it twice (May 21, 1998/6-2 at Stanford; Feb. 20, 2001/9-1 vs. USC).
Make That 4
For the fourth straight year LMU won the Western Water Polo Association Championship thanks to a 7-3 win over UC San Diego in the title game at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on April 25. It was the third consecutive year the WWPA rivals met in the championship game. Senior Devon Wright started the scoring, followed by sophomore Stacia Peterson and freshman Sarah Hamilton to put the Lions up 3-0. The Lions then went up 5-0 before UC San Diego would score. LMU goalie Katie Murray was solid in net with eight saves. The Lions set-up the championship win with an impressive offensive showing in the first two games, defeating Chapman in the first round 18-2 and then knocking off Cal State Bakersfield 16-8 in the semifinals.
Head Coach John Loughran
Entering his eighth season at the helm of the women's water polo program, Head Coach John Loughran has achieved unparalleled success for the Lions. In 2004 the women's water program set a school record for wins with a 25-6 overall mark on the season. The team won its fourth straight Western Water Polo Association championship and advanced to their fourth consecutive NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship. He has led the team to five straight 20-win seasons and six straight winning seasons and earned four straight WWPA Coach of the Year honors. In addition, Loughran has had 10 All-Americans, 19 All-WWPA selections and 10 All-NCAA Tournament selections. His career record reflects his success with the women's program as he has a career mark of 164-76 (.683). Loughran also led the men's team to its first WWPA Championship in 2001 and then back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004. With the men's program he has compiled a record of 133-104 in eight seasons.
