Nov. 6, 2009

Final Stats

Game Sheet in PDF Format

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Sixth-ranked LMU and 14th-ranked Santa Clara found themselves locked up in a battle often reserved for the Sunday before Thanksgiving, which is when the Western Water Polo Association Championship is held annually. It might have been a preview of things to come, as the Lions knocked off the Broncos, 7-5, in a tight battle at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center Friday afternoon.

With the win, the Lions improve to 10-0 in WWPA play and 15-6 on the season, taking another step toward securing the No. 1 seed for the 2009 WWPA Championships, which will be Nov. 20-22 at Chapman University. Santa Clara falls to 8-3 in WWPA play and 17-9 overall.

It was a match-up featuring the best defense in the WWPA against the best offense. The Lions have allowed a conference low 124 goals entering into the contest, ranking third nationally at 6.20 goals per game. Santa Clara owned the leagues best offense with 272 goals, scoring 11.33 per game, which ranks eighth nationally.

Defense came out on top.

The Lions held the Broncos scoreless in the first and third quarters and held the Broncos to just 10 shot on goal for the contest. LMU got opportune goals throughout the line-up as Brian Benedetti, Edgaras Asajavicius and Tibor Forai each scored a pair.

The Lions took a 1-0 lead in the first period after a Forai five-meter penalty goal. The game remained that way until the Lions scored three unanswered to take a 4-0 lead with 4:06 to play in the first half.

Santa Clara came right back with a three-goal run of their own, including a goal from Nicholas Poggetti with 33 second to play in the half to make it 4-3. When the dust settled in the second quarter, the teams had combined for six goals.

Defense would once again take over and it favored the Lions. Only five combined goals were scored the rest of the way. The Lions made it 5-3 with 6:!8 to play in the third on a 6-on-5 goal by Asajavicius. The lead jumped to 6-3 when Benedetti scored on the 6-on-5 attack with 1:09 to play.

The Broncos looked to get back into the game with a goal just 17 seconds into the fourth quarter by Stephen Hobbs, making the score 6-4. It stayed that way for nearly six minutes until Forai put the game away with 1:49 to play, scoring to make it a 7-4 game. Santa Clara added a 6-on-5 goal with four seconds to play for the final margin.

The Lions will play two more in WWPA action on Saturday when they head to Chapman to face Air Force at 12:30 p.m., and then Chapman at 3:30 p.m.