April 8, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

The 10th-ranked LMU women's water polo team will play just one game a week in the next two weeks as the 2009 season enters its final weeks heading into the Western Water Polo Association Championships at the end of April. This week's game will have the 10th-ranked Lions traveling to La Jolla to face WWPA rival UC San Diego on Thursday, April 9 at 6 p.m. It will be the final WWPA match-up of the regular season for the Lions, who enter the week 9-0 in WWPA play and 20-7 overall.

INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU claimed their ninth straight 20-win season last weekend, going 3-2 in a tough five-game week. After falling in a hard-fought 14-9 setback to No. 2 USC, the Lions went 3-1 at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, host of the 2009 WWPA Championships. It has become a tradition for the Lions in their schedule to play the best in the nation and this season has been the same way. The Lions have played 16 games against teams in the top-20. All seven 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 and the WWPA with 101 goals after 27 games, earning 20 last week to break her own single season record of 90 she set a year ago. Junior transfer Anne Scott had a monster weekend of her own with 11 goals, ranking second on the team with 43 on the season. Freshman Kimberly Benedetti is third with 33, sophomore's Mary Ann Campos and Diana Romero are fourth and fifth, respectively, with 29 and 25. Freshman Elise Ponce and junior Eliana Arellano have both seen time in net for the Lions, with Ponce playing in 56 quarters and Arellano 52. The freshman has made 142 saves, including 19 in the win over Long Beach State while the junior Arellano is third all-time in career saves with 342 and is tops in the WWPA with a goals against average of 7.08.

RECORD PUSH
Senior Nicole Hughes entered the 2009 season with a chance at some lofty numbers. And after 27 games this season, she is blowing away the scoring records at LMU. She already broke the record for goals in a career by scoring seven goals in the Lions' 11-7 win over Sonoma State on Mar. 15. She then added to her records with a single-game best eight goals in the Lions 14-5 win over Princeton, also on Mar. 15, and then did it again in the 14-11 win over No. 16 Cal State Bakersfield on Apr. 4. 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 20 goals last week in five games, she has 292. In the four games over the weekend at the LMU Invite, Hughes tallied 24 goals to earn her second Player of the Week honor. 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 past assistant coach Cara Colton for 8th in assists with 50 and second in shot attempts with 575. On the season, she leads the team in goals (101), third in assists (19), tops in kickouts drawn (67) and in steals (45).

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 and 13th in the WWPA in goals with 41, first on the team in assists with 27 (which is eighth in LMU history) and second on the team in steals with 40.

GETTING INTO THE ACT
The Lions put up lofty numbers at the Cal State Bakersfield tournament, setting a season-high in goals in each of the four games. They scored 14 in the overtime win over CSUB, they scored 15 against Whittier, 17 against Chapman and then a season-high 19 against CSUSB. Twelve players scored in the last two contests, helping many Lions get into the scoring act. Freshman Casey Flacks has been putting up numbers in her first season, ranking second with 23 assists this season (tied for ninth in LMU history). Junior Meghan Moore doubled her career-goal total with six goals in two games, scoring four in the win over Chapman. Goalie Eliana Arellano also had a rare moment on the offensive end. In the win over Chapman, she started in goal, made 10 saves, had an assist and scored a goal. Freshman Kimberly Benedetti was a big reason for the Lions win against CSUB, scoring a career-best five goals, giving her 33 this season.

20 WINS
For the ninth straight season, the Loyola Marymount women's water polo team has earned at least 20 win in a season. The streak started with a 23-7 mark in 2001, and since they have win totals of 21 (2002), 24 (2003), 25 (2004), 30 (2005), 25 (2006), 27 (2007) and 20 (2008).

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.

WINNING THE WWPA
LMU has won six of the last eight WWPA titles and is 28-4 all-time in the WWPA touranment. Here is a look at the Lions, year-by-year, in the WWPA Championships:
2008 - 2-1 - Lost in finals to UCD
2007 - 3-0 - Won WWPA title
2006 - 2-1 - Lost in finals to UCD
2005 - 3-0 - Won WWPA title
2004 - 3-0 - Won WWPA title
2003 - 3-0 - Won WWPA title
2002 - 3-0 - Won WWPA title
2001 - 3-0 - Won WWPA title
2000 - 3-1 - Lost in semis to UCSD
1999 - 3-1 - Lost in semis to UC Davis
Totals: 28-4 overall

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 with a 7-1 mark so far this season, have posted a 91-17 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 261-107 (.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.