Nov. 22, 2009

Final Scoresheet in PDF Format

ORANGE, Calif. - All season the LMU men's water polo team has been one of the top-rated defenses in the nation, and the Lions defense came up huge when it mattered most. The Lions defeated No. 10 UC San Diego, 5-4, in the Western Water Polo Association Championship at Chapman University on Sunday afternoon. It is the Lions third consecutive title and seventh in nine years.

Redshirt sophomore Max Schlegel broke a 4-4 tie with 4:01 to play in the game when he scored just outside of five-meters. With the lead, the Lions' defense and goalie Andy Stevens kept the Tritons off the board in the final frame. Stevens had 14 saves in the game, four in the final frame.

Schlegel's goal was the only time a team scored back-to-back goals in the game. The Lions scored the final goal of the third period and then Schlegel scored the would-be game winner.

LMU will advance to their seventh National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship hosted by Princeton on Dec. 5-6. The Lions improve to 19-7 on the season and 14-0 against WWPA competition. The win over the Tritons was their fifth of the season against their rivals and 11th straight overall. LMU has now won 31 straight against WWPA opponents.

The rivalry lived up to the billing again in the title game. They have played against each other eight times in the last 10 years to decide the WWPA title. They play each other in a home-and-home every year and usually find each other in several of the regular season tournaments. In 2009, they played four times in the regular season.

To say they know each other is an understatement, and their eighth meeting for the WWPA title was like all the previous meetings, a classic back-and-forth affair.

UC San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the first frame, only to see LMU's Brian Benedetti tie it out of the set at two-meters to start the second period. UCSD took a 2-1 lead with 6:04 to play in the second, only to see LMU tie it again on a two-meter goal by Ikaika Andrew Aki with 3:14 to play in the first half.

Nothing was solved after two periods with the score at halftime, 2-2.

The pattern continued in the second half.

UCSD took a 3-2 lead at the 4:49 mark, only to see LMU tie it 34 seconds later on Benedetti's second goal of the game.

The WWPA title game tango continued as UC San Diego took a 4-3 lead with 2:41 to play. LMU responded again, with Tibor Forai tying it at 4-4 with 26 seconds to play in the third quarter.

The two rivals still had not solved anything as the game was tied at 4-4 after three to set up another classic finish, adding to the LMU-UCSD men's water polo rivalry.