Sept. 24, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

The tour of the nation's top-10 continues for the Loyola Marymount men's water polo team as they will play a pair of games on the week against familiar foes. The Lions will play their ninth and 10th game of the season against teams in the top-10 when they travel to Western Water Polo Association rival and 10th-ranked UC San Diego on Thrusday, Sept. 25 before heading home to face fifth-ranked Long Beach State on Saturday, Sept. 27. Game times are set for 6 p.m., and 12 noon, respectively.

INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU finished the 2008 NorCal Invite with a record of 2-2 and in sixth place against the best teams in the nation. The Lions fell one spot in the national poll to No.7 despite the sixth place finish. LMU sits at 5-5 on the season with all 10 games coming against ranked opponents and eight of the 10 against the top-10. The Lions' five setbacks have been by a combined 12 goals, two coming to current No. 1 USC. Freshman Edgaras Asajavicius leads the Lions in goals with 17. The Lions offensive attack has been balanced as seven players have scored seven or more goals. In net, sophomore Andy Stevens has also been solid with 107 saves and a goals against average of 7.08.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Andy Stevens has been named the Western Water Polo Association Player of the Week for leading LMU to a sixth place finish at the NorCal Invitational last weekend in Stockton, Calif. Stevens had double digit saves all four games, totalling 46 for the tournament. He had 12 saves in the win over No. 13 Navy, the win over No. 7 UC Irvine, and the setback to No. 8 Long Beach State. He had 10 against No. 3 Stanford. Stevens allowed just 4.5 goals in the two wins, allowing just four against Navy and five against UC Irvine. His 107 saves on the season is third in the nation.

NATIONAL STATS
The Lions enter the week ranked fourth national ly in defense, allowing 7.10 goals per game. They are tops in the Western Water Polo Association and have allowed just 71 goals on the season. Andy Stevens is a big reason for that as he ranks third nationally in saves with 107, 10.7 per game. Offensively, Edgaras Asajavicius is 28th nationally with his 17 goals.

UP NEXT
The Lions will begin their week with the annual trek to La Jolla to take on rival UC San Diego in a battle between a pair of teams who have won the last eight WWPA titles. This will be the 38th meeting between the two programs, the most against any one team for the Lions. LMU swept the series last season, the first time since 2001 and only the second time in program history. They won 9-4 in both meetings. Two days later the Lions will host No. 5 Long Beach State at the Burns Aquatics Center. It will be the third time already this season the two teams have met and the second time in six days. They have split the two meetings, LMU winning 12-8 on Sept. 7 and then Long Beach STate winning 7-6 last Sunday at the NorCal.

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 366 games and accounting for a combined 195 goals. Hummel will play his 106th game against UCSD on Saturday while Lormant will be in game No. 102, Milovic in game No. 88 and Heafner in game No. 74.

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 of combined for 28 goals. The freshman broke out with a three-game performance in the triple overtime game against USC and had another three goals against the Waves and UC Irvine.