March 14, 2007

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Briefly
The Loyola Marymount University women's water polo team, ranked 11th in the nation, will play their third five-game week of the season as they host Bucknell at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Thrusday, March 15 at 3 p.m. and then travel to the Michigan Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18. The Lions will play four games at Michigan, starting with Brown on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

The Lions
The Lions improved their record to 10-4 on the season with a pair of wins on Saturday, defeating Cal State Northridge 10-4 and WWPA foe Cal State Bakersfield, ranking No. 19, 13-10. Senior Stacia Peterson leads the Lions with 31 goals in 50 attempts, good for a 62.0 shooting percentage. She now has 192 goals in her career at LMU, good for second all-time in program history. Right behind her is fellow senior Katie Hicks, who has 183 goals in her career to rank third. She has 22 this season to rank third on the team. Nicole Hughes is second with 23. Sophomore goalie Kaylee Caster has 134 saves on the season, ranking third in the Western Water Polo Association and 10th nationally.

Coming Up
The Lions will open the week with a home date against Bucknell, just the third meeting in program history. The two teams first met on March 9, 1999, a 15-7 LMU win, and then again on March 16, 2002, a 13-4 LMU win. This will be Bucknell's first trip to LMU. The Lions will then make their second trip in program history to the Michigan Invitational. The Lions will open the tournament with Brown at 10:30 a.m. (PST) and then close the opening day with host Michigan at 4:20 p.m. (PST). It will be the third all-time meeting against Brown (the Lions lead 2-0) and the second meeting this season against Michigan. The Lions won the first meeting, 9-7. It will be the 12th meeting between the two programs as LMU is 10-1. The Lions will close with Wagner at 5:00 a.m. (PST) and then Indiana at 12:00 noon (PST). It will be the second meeting between LMU and Wagner, the first going to the Lions, 16-4, on May 14, 2005 in the NCAA tournament. The Lions are 8-0 against Indiana, last meeting on April 9, 2006, a 10-3 LMU win.

The WWPA
The WWPA has quite the representation on the national top-20 in scoring this season. There are 12 players from WWPA teams in the top-20 in scoring, including seven in the top-10 and four of the top-5. The Lions are 26th nationally and seventh in the WWPA in scoring as Stacia Peterson ranks 14th in the WWPA. On the defensive side, Kaylee Caster is ranked 10th in saves while the Lions are second in the WWPA in goals allowed and 14th nationally, allowing just 7.6 goals per game.

Head Coach John Loughran
Entering his 10th season at the helm of the women's water polo program, Loughran has achieved unparalleled success for the Lions. He has led the team to five WWPA championships, six straight 20-win seasons and seven straight winning campaigns and with the 9-7 win over Michigan he notched his 200th career win in women's water polo. He has earned four WWPA Coach of the Year honors and has coached the last five WWPA Players of the Year and has had 12 Americans, 23 All-WWPA selections and 12 All-NCAA Tournament selections. His career record reflects his success with the women's program with a career mark of 204-86 (.701). Loughran has also led the men's water polo program to a new level of success. Taking over the program in the 1997 season, Loughran led the Lions to its first WWPA Championship in 2001 and then three straight titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005. With the men's program he has compiled a record of 170-135 in 10 seasons. In addition, Loughran has established home "pool" advantage for the water polo programs as the women's team has gone 61-10 (.859) at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center.

US National Team
The women's water polo national team coaching staff announced the Junior and Senior National Teams this week in preparation for the summer season. For the first time in Loyola Marymount history, a Lion will be on that squad. Junior Katie Hicks was selected to this year's Senior National Team as she is one of a number of new faces on the rosters. Hicks was one of 11 players selected based on their performance at the Women's National Team open tryouts and training camp held over the last several weeks in Los Alamitos, Calif. Also among those 11 is freshman Nicole Hughes, who was selected to the Junior National Team.