Nov. 1, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Just Briefly
The Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team moved up to No. 7 in the national rankings as they hit the home stretch in the 2006 season. The Lions will play on Thursday, Nov. 2 at Pepperdine. Game time for that one was moved up an hour to 2 p.m. Following the match-up with the rival Waves, the Lions will host an important triple-header in Western Water Polo Association play as they host Air Force and Redlands on Saturday, Nov. 4.

Looking at the Lions
Loyola Marymount is 14-10 on the season after suffering a 7-3 setback to No. 3 UCLA last week. The Lions feature one of the nation's top defenses while sporting a balanced offensive attack. Senior Brian McShane leads a four-senior attack with 34 goals. Seniors Cutberto Hernandez and Matt Reynolds add 29 and 28 goals, respectively. Senior Ben Easton adds 27. The Lions have scored 227 goals in 24 games this season, including a program-record 23 in the win over Gannon last Thursday.

In Net
The backbone of the Lions defense for the last three years has been senior Ian Elliott. And that has not changed this season. Elliott is in his fourth and final season of collegiate water polo at LMU and is a three-time first-team All-WWPA selection. In 24 games this season he has already made 264 saves, giving him an average of 11.3 saves per game. He is tops in the nation in saves. This season he has had double-digit saves in 15 of the Lions' 24 games this season. In his career he has made 1087 saves to set the all-time school mark. His career goals against average is 7.0. In 2005 he finished the regular season among the top-five nationally in saves with 304 while allowing just 6.64 goals per game. He played in every game and appeared in net for 135 of the Lions' 140 quarters.

This Week
The Lions will travel to Pepperdine on Thursday in a rubber-match between the two rivals. The Lions earned a 9-7 win on Sept. 9 and the Waves claimed a 15-9 win on SoCal on Oct. 14. However, the bigger games on the week might be the triple-header the Lions host on Saturday. The Lions will take on WWPA foes Air Force and Redlands on Saturday. The Lions will open with Air Force, who is 9-14 overall and 5-4 in the WWPA while ranked 16th in the national, at 9 a.m. The Falcons and Redlands will then play at 12:15 p.m. followed by LMU-Redlands at 3:30 p.m. Redlands is the hottest team in the WWPA, winning their last 10 and 12 of their last 13.

The WWPA
ON A ROLL... This Western Water Polo Association has some of the hottest teams in the nation heading into the final month of play. UC San Diego is cruising at 21-5 overall. Redlands, however, is the hottest team in the conference. They have climbed to second overall in the WWPA at 17-7 and have won 10 straight and 12 of thier last 13. Seven of the WWPA institutions find themselves listed in this week's national rankings. UC San Diego is still tops in the league at No. 5 while LMU moves up one to No. 7. UC Davis is next on the list at No. 14 while Santa Clara and Air Force flip-flop this week. Air Force moves up one spot to No. 16 while Santa Clara sits at No. 17, two spots better than No. 19 Redlands. IN GOOD HANDS... The national rankings is full of WWPA stars this season as Chapman's freshman Alex Mule is second in the nation in scoring with 81 goals. Sophomore Jack Wall of Santa Clara iw eighth in the nation in scoring with 59 goals. The goalies aren't bad either in the WWPA as LMU senior Ian Elliott leads the nation with 261 saves, good for 11.3 saves per game. He has company in the top-10 as Air Force senior Denver Saunders is third (241 saves). Mike McGee of UC Davis is fifth in the nation with 228 saves while Jeremy Randall from UC San Diego is seventh with 214. Freshman Colin Gasper from Chapman is 11th with 188 saves. Defense is a theme this season in the WWPA as Redlands is ranked fifth in the nation at 7.7 goals against per game while LMU is seventh at 8.1 gaa, Air Force is ninth at 8.5 gaa, UC Davis at 10th with 8.8 gaa and UC San Diego at 11th with 8.9 gaa.

Last Time Out
#3 UCLA 7, #7 LMU 3 - The seventh-ranked Loyola Marymount University men's water polo team fell to No. 3 UCLA in defensive affair, 7-3, on Saturday afternoon at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The Lions fall to 14-10 on the year while UCLA improves to 10-4. The first half belonged to the defenses as LMU was held scoreless while Lions' goalie Ian Elliott made seven saves to limit UCLA to just one score. The teams went into half with the Bruins up 3-0. Elliott finished the game with 12 saves. UCLA made it 4-0 before the Lions finally got on to the scoreboard with a Ben Easton goal at the 5:10 mark of the third quarter. The Lions looked be gaining momentum with the score at 4-1. However, the Bruins iced it with a five-meter penalty called on the Lions and Logan Powell hitting on the five-meter attempt to make it 5-1 with 4:35 remaining. The Bruins extended the lead to 6-1 before Shaun Flood made it 5-2 and Cutberto Hernandez made it 7-3.

In the Records
With his 34 goals this season, senior Brian McShane now has 101 goals in his career at LMU, ranking him 16th in LMU history. Also in the rankings is senior Cutberto Hernandez with 72 assists to rank 6th all-time. Ian Elliott with 121 games played and Matt Reynolds with 117 are ranked 3rd and 6th all-time. Elliott and Reynolds are also tied for 6th in steals with 109.

In the NCAAs
The Lions made their fourth trip to the NCAA tournament in 2005. It was their third straight and fourth in five years as they made trips in 2001, 2003, and 2004. They have finished third every year. In the first trip in 2001, they fell to UCLA, 7-5, and then defeated UMass, 14-6. The last three trips the Lions have faced Stanford, falling 14-8 in 2003, 14-6 in 2004 and then in a heartbreaker in 2005, 7-6. They rebounded every time, defeating Navy in 2003, 10-7, Princeton in 2004, 6-5, and St. Francis in 2005, 10-6.

Third Time is the Charm
Men's water polo won their third straight conference championship by winning the 2005 WWPA Championship, which LMU hosted on Nov. 17-19. They are just the fourth program in LMU Athletics' history to win three or more consecutive championships. They join women's volleyball (1994, 95, 96), baseball (1998, 99, 00) and women's water polo (2001, 02, 03, 04, 05).

The WWPA Title
Loyola Marymount junior Brian McShane scored his fourth goal of the game with 1:28 remaining to lift the Lions to a 7-6 win over UC San Diego in the title game of the 2005 Western Water Polo Association Men's Championship on Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center in front of a standing room only crowd of 1,010. This was the fifth time in six years UCSD and LMU met in the title game of the WWPA tournament and the Lions improve to 3-2 in those games. With the teams resolving nothing through three quarters and tied at 4-4 going into the fourth, UCSD scored back-to-back goals from Brandon Borso and Jonathan Hopkins to take a 6-4 lead and the momentum with 5:51 remaining. The Lions and McShane were not finished, as they would score three unanswered for the title. McShane cut the lead to one with his third goal of the game, putting in a backhand from two-meter to make it 6-5 with 3:39. Ben Easton then tied the game for the third time on the day with 2:50 on the clock to set-up McShane's game winner. Ian Elliott finished the game with 15 saves and the Lions' defense shutout the Tritons in the second to tie the game at 3-3.

All-WWPA
Four members from the LMU men's water polo team earned All-WWPA honors in 2005. Ian Elliott, Endre Rex-Kiss, Matt Reynolds and Ben Easton all took home honors. For the junior Elliott, it is his third consecutive first-team All-WWPA selection, as the goalie has earned every year of his career. The two-time All-American Rex-Kiss earned his second straight first-team selection. Claiming their first all-conference honors was Reynolds and Easton. Reynolds earned second-team honors while Easton was an honorable mention.

More All-Americans
LMU earned three individuals on the 2005 American Water Polo Coaches All-American teams after winning their third straight Western Water Polo Association championship and fourth in five years. Senior Endre Rex-Kiss earned second-team honors for the third straight year as he becomes just the second player in program history to do so. Rex-Kiss was joined by juniors Ian Elliott and Brian McShane as All-Americans this season as they earned honorable mention honors. The three selections to this year's All-America teams is the second time in program history three have earned honors, tying the 2001 squad.

The Coach
In the past nine 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. Loughran has won nine conference titles in his time at LMU, taking five straight for the women's team from 2001-2005 and four in the last five years for the men. He also earned WWPA Coach of the Year honors in 2005, his seventh coach of the year honor at LMU (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 for women; 2001, 2003, 2005 for men). He has posted an overall record of 165-129 (.556) for the men's team in nine seasons, ranking him as the program's all-time winningest coach. He has also earned a record of 196-81 (.708) with the women's water polo program.

Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center
Since it opened in the fall of 2000 as the home of LMU aquatics, the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center has seen nine championships and the two water polo teams combine for 109 wins in just six short seasons. The Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center opened in August of 2000. The Lions have thrived in the state-of-the-art facility, earning a record of 109-30 in six seasons. The men's team went 7-3 in 2005 and have compiled a record of 48-20 (.705) during its stay at the Center. The facility hosted the University's first ever NCAA championship with the the 2002 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship. The tournament will return to the Burns Center this season as LMU will host the 2006 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship on Dec. 2-3. For tickets, call (310) 338-LION.