Oct. 16, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Loyola Marymount men's water polo team was originally scheduled to host a pair of home games on the week, but that number has been trimmed to just one as the Lions will take on No. 19 Brown at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 11:30 a.m. The Lions were supposed to play No. 9 UC Irvine on Thursday, Oct. 16 but due to conflicts that game has been cancelled and will not be made up.

INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU is coming off a tough stretch against five teams ranked in the top-11 nationally. They finished 2-3 on the week with the loses coming to the No. 2, 3 and 4 teams in the nation. They finished 2-2 in the SoCal Men's Water Polo Tournament and finished sixth, equalling their best-ever finish in the prestigous tournament. On the season 17 of the Lions' 19 games have come against the top-20 and 14 of those 19 have against the top-10. The Lions' seven of the eight setbacks this season have come to teams in the top five, two to current No. 1 USC, two to current No. 2 Stanford and two to current No. 5 Pepperdine. Freshman Edgaras Asajavicius leads the Lions in goals with 32. Senior Tim Hummel continues to have a break-out final season as he is second with 25 goals while leading the team with 47 kickouts. Following Hummel in goals scored is sophomore Tibor Forai with 23. The Lions offensive attack has been balanced as seven players have scored 15 or more goals. In net, sophomore Andy Stevens has also been solid with 173 saves and a goals against average of 7.61.

NATIONAL STATS
The Lions enter the week ranked ninthth nationally in defense, allowing 141 goals. They lead the conference with just 7.42 goals allowed per game. Andy Stevens is a big reason for that as he ranks fifth nationally in saves with 173, 9.89 per game. Offensively, Edgaras Asajavicius is 31st nationally and 10th in the WWPA in goal scoring. The Lions are fourth in the league and eighth nationally in scoring at 10.0 per game (190 goals).

UP NEXT
The Lions will face No. 19 Brown on Saturday at the Burns Center. It will be the first meeting between Brown and LMU in Los Angeles and fifth overall. They have split the previous four meetings with LMU winning the last two. The last meeting was on Oct. 2, 2005, a 10-6 victory at the East Meets West Tournament hosted by Air Force.

SENIOR LEADERS
Leading the Lions in 2008 are the senior quartet of Julien Lormant, Tim Hummel, Mark Milovic and Tim Heafner. The four enter the week playing in a combined 402 games and accounting for a combined 240 goals. Hummel will play his 115th game against Brown on Saturday while Lormant will be in game No. 111, Milovic in game No. 97 and Heafner in game No. 83. Hummel is now ranked eighth all-time in games played and Lormant is tied for 10th.

LEFT SIDE, RIGHT SIDE
The Lions feature an international flavor in their one-two punch offensively as Tibor Forai and Edgaras Asajavicius are rejoined as Lions in 2008. The two played in development team action in the summer of 2007 and were considered a dangerous combination. Forai with his all-around play on offense and defense as a right-hander scored 50 goals as a freshman and was second on the team in steals. The pair have combined for 55 goals, including a team-high 32 by Asajavicius. The freshman broke out with a three-goal performance in the triple overtime game against USC and had another three goals against the Waves, UC Irvine and UC San Diego. Forai is third on the team in goals with 23 but has missed four games with a broken nose. He leads the team in assists with nine and has 10 steals.