Dec. 21, 2007

Los Angeles, CA - For the second time in three seasons the Loyola Marymount men's water polo team has placed three members on the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Division I All-American Team. Freshman Tibor Forai has earned third-team honors while freshman goalie Andy Stevens and junior Mark Milovic earned honorable mention honors as the ACWPC announced the All-American teams on Friday.

The trio of Lions led the program to their fifth Western Water Polo Association championship in seven years with a dramatic 7-6 come-from-behind win over UC Davis in the WWPA tournament final in November. The win earned the Lions their fifth trip to the National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship and a final ranking of 10th in the nation.

In his first season in the United States, in college and in collegiate water polo, Forai, a native of Serbia, led the Lions with 50 goals in the 2007 season. He added 30 steals, which ranked second on the team, and added 11 assists. He played in all 30 games and had 18 games with two or more goals.

In addition to his All-America honor, Forai was named second-team All-WWPA and MVP of the WWPA tournament. He was also named to the first WWPA All-Freshman team.

Stevens made up the other half of the Lions freshmen duo, earning honorable mention honors in his first season of action. After serving his redshirt season in 2006, Stevens played with the junior national team and finished his first season as the starter for the Lions seventh in the nation with 294 saves. He led the nation with 11.8 saves per game. He was also named WWPA Newcomer of the Year and honorable mention All-WWPA.

As leader of the Lions, Milovic had the best season of his career. Earning first-team All-WWPA honors, Milovic was second on the team with a career-best 29 goals while adding 11 assists and 18 steals in all 30 games. He doubled his career totals in every statistical category in his junior season.

The Lions will return all but two players from the 2007 championship team when they begin another title defense in the fall of 2008.