Nov. 7, 2009

ORANGE, Calif. -- Playing less than 24 hours after a hard-fought win over Santa Clara, the sixth-ranked LMU men's water polo team overcame a 3-0 deficit and a two-plus hour delay to defeat No. 15 Air Force, 9-4, at Allred Pool on the Chapman University campus. The Lions were supposed to play Chapman at 3:30 p.m., but that game was cancelled.

The Lions ran their record against Western Water Polo Association foes to 10-0 when they finished off No. 14 Santa Clara at the Burns Recreation Center on Friday afternoon around 4:15 p.m. The Lions then traveled to Chapman to play in a doubleheader, starting with Air Force at 12:30 p.m.

Air Force established momentum early, holding the Lions scoreless in the first quarter while taking a 1-0 lead. In the second quarter, Air Force scored the first two goals and were in command of the game with a 3-0 lead late.

It looked as if they would take the lead into the locker room, holding the Lions scoreless for the first 15:59 of the game. However, junior Tibor Forai got the Lions on the board with just one second remaining, making it a 3-1 lead at the break.

Edgaras Asajavicius then scored at the 5:51 mark of the third quarter to make it 3-2.

Then came a power outage on the Chapman campus. The teams decided to wait it out and play the game. They waited for over two hours before play resumed. The game finally got started again at 3:!5 p.m.

Coming out of the outage, Forai tied it at 3-3 with a goal with 3:13 remaining. Air Force would fight off the momentum shift and regain the lead at 4-3 when Matt Versage scored with 1:40 to play.

Then came the power surge. This time it was by the LMU offense. The Lions drew a six-on-five with 20 seconds to play and called a timeout to set-up the offense going into the extra-man attack. The timeout loomed large, as Max Schlegel tied the score at 4-4 with just seven seconds to play.

The timeout and tying goal started a stretch where the Lions scored six straight to provide a knock-out punch. Forai would open the fourth frame with a goal with 6:48 remaining to take their first lead, 5-4. It would prove to be the game winner as the Lions kept the Falcons off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Jon Colton made it 6-4 just 36 seconds later and then with 5:05 to play Asajavicius made it 7-4. Less than a minute later Forai added his second goal of the quarter and fourth of the game to make it 8-4. The Lions five-goal fourth quarter ended with a goal from Andrew Aki at the 2:30 mark.

LMU outscored Air Force 8-1 in the second half to run their record to 11-0 in the WWPA and 16-6 overall. The game concluded just after 4 p.m., three-and-a-half hours after it started.

LMU will play Long Beach State in the final regular season game of the season on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.