March 18, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

The LMU women's water polo team ran their home record to 5-0 on the season with four wins at the LMU Invitational last weekend. That perfect mark at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center will be tested again this week as the Lions host three games on the week. They will start with Wagner on Mar. 19 at 3:00 p.m., followed by No. 17 Long Beach State on Saturday, Mar. 21 at 12 noon. The homestand ends with No. 4 Hawaii on Monday, Mar. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU improved to 11-4 on the season after the four-game sweep last weekend. The Lions earned wins over Colorado State (14-4), No. 19 Indiana (8-6), Sonoma State (11-7) and Princeton (14-5). It has become a tradition for the Lions in their schedule to play the best in the nation and this season has started the same way. The Lions have played 11 games against teams in the top-20. All four of the Lions' setbacks this season have come to teams ranked in the top-10. To the surprise of no one, senior Nicole Hughes has used her final season to solidify her status as the most prolific scorer in LMU history. She leads the team with 59 goals after 15 games, already seventh all-time in LMU history. Junior transfer Anne Scott is second on the team in goals with 22, while freshman Kimberly Benedetti is third with 19. Freshman Elise Ponce and junior Eliana Arellano have both seen time in net for the Lions, with Ponce playing in 33 quarters and Arellano 27. The freshman has made 93 saves, including 19 in the win over Long Beach State.

RECORD PUSH
Senior Nicole Hughes entered the 2009 season with a chance at some lofty numbers. And after just 14 games this season, she is blowing the scoring records at LMU. She entered LMU's two games on Sunday of the 2009 LMU Invitational needing five goals to set the all-time career record. It didn't take long as she equaled her own single game record with seven goals in the Lions' 11-7 win over Sonoma State in their first game. She then added to her records with a single-game best eight goals in the Lions 14-5 win in the final game Sunday. From this point forward in her final season of her career, she is putting the icing on a four-year stint that will leave no doubt to her status as LMU's most prolific scorer in school history. She broke Lucy Windes eight-year old record of 239 career goals, and with her eight goals against the Tigers - breaking her own single-game record she had tied against Sonoma State - she now has 250. She also holds the single season record with her 90 goals a year ago.In the four games over the weekend, Hughes tallied 24 goals to earn her second Player of the Week honor. She now has 59 goals on the season. She scored 15 goals in four games to be named the WWPA Player of the Week for Feb. 11. Scoring isn't the only thing she is climbing the records on. She is 9th in assists with 43 and second in shot attempts with 509. On the season, she leads the team in goals (59), second in assists (12), tops in kickouts drawn (47) and in steals (26).

DOUBLE DUTY
Junior college transfer Anne Scott, who is in her first season with the Lions after transferring from American River Community College, has made quite the impact for the Lions, not just in water polo but in swimming as well. While the Lions played the UC Irvine Invitational Feb. 21-22, Scott missed the first two games while swimming at the Pacific Coast Swim Conference Championships. She helped the Lions to a second place finish while being named the PCSC Swimmer of the Year. For the water polo team, she is second on the team in goals with 22, first in assists with 15 and third in steals with 18.

20 WINS
For the eighth straight season, the Loyola Marymount women's water polo team finish a season with at least 20 years and made it to the championship game of the Western Water Polo Association tournament in 2008. The Lions finished the year 20-11 and for just the second time in eight years missed out on a title with a one-goal setback to UC Davis.

ALL-WWPA
Junior Nicole Hughes set the all-time single season scoring record was named first-team All-Conference by the Western Water Polo Association. Joining Hughes in earning WWPA honors is Alex Wike as a second-team selection, and Diana Romero as an honorable mention selection. Romero and fellow Mary Ann Campos were also named to the WWPA All-Freshman Team, which is in its first year as an award in 2008 for the women.

ALL-AMERICANS
Nicole Hughes and Alex Wike of the women's water program at Loyola Marymount have earned All-America honors by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. Hughes earned second-team ACWPC honors while Wike earned honorable mention honors. Hughes, who became the first Lion to score 90 goals to set the all-time single season record, was named one of the top-12 players in the nation, earning second-team ACWPC honors. She is the seventh Lion since 2001 to earn first or second-team honors. As for Wike, she finished a break-out senior season with 22 goals and a team-high 45 steals. She also set the record with field blocks at 19. Hughes and Wike bring the total number of All-Americans to 16 since 2001. It is the sixth season the Lions have had at least two All-Americans.

ACADEMIC HONORS
LMU has been named one of the top-16 programs in the nationally academically by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. The Lions finished with a 3.07 team GPA to claim team All-America Academic honors as eight players were also honored for their achievements in the classroom. The Lions had four players earn "superior" or second-team All-America Academic honors. Lauren Barlow, Meghan Moore, Alissa Volosin and Alex Wike were all named to the second-team with GPAs between 3.41 and 3.70. Volosin and Wike both graduated this past May while Barlow and Moore will both be juniors in 2008-09. Earning "excellent" or third-team All-America Academic honors were Stephanie Bours, Sheena Carter, Charis Ceniseroz and Sasha Fuller for earning a GPA between 3.20 and 3.40.

BURNS CENTER
Since it opened in the fall of 2000, the Burns Aquatics Center has seen the Lions win 13 championships, post 147 wins and has been host to two NCAA championships in just seven seasons. The Burns Center has helped the women's water polo team claim six conference titles, the men's water polo team claim six and the women's swim team winning their first title in 2008. In addition to hosting the two NCAA Men's Water Polo National Championship in 2002 and 2005, LMU has also hosted four Western Water Polo Association Championships - two for the men (2001, 2005) and two for the women (2003, 2008). The Lions have won three of them, both for the men and then in 2003 for the women. The Lions have thrived in the state-of-the-art facility, earning a record of 147-46 in eight seasons. The men's team went 5-3 in 2008 and have compiled a record of 63-30 (.677) during its stay at the Center. As for the women's team, they won their first 21 games at the Burns Aquatics Center and have posted a 84-16 record (.840) in eight seasons, going a perfect 14-0 in its first season in 2001.

The Coach
In the past 12 years, Head Coach John Loughran has been going about his business in developing the Loyola Marymount water polo programs (both the men and women) into one of the nation's best. Loughran has won 12 conference titles in his time at LMU, taking six in eight years for the women's team and sixth in the last eight years for the men (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 for women; 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008: for men). He has posted an overall record of 201-158 (.551) for the men's team in 12 seasons and a record of 252-104 (.709) with the women's water polo program. The recent success has been yet another step in the accolades Loughran has brought to the program. He has earned four WWPA Coach of the Year honors and has coached the six WWPA Players of the Year in Peterson (2007), Rachel Riddell (2005), Devon Wright (2004), Teresa Guidi (2003), Devon Courtney (2002) and Lucy Windes (2001). In addition, Loughran has had 17 All-Americans, 37 All-WWPA selections and 13 All-NCAA Tournament selections.