Sept. 17, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The LMU men's water polo team will travel to Stanford for the first of two annual tournaments that feature the best collegiate water polo teams in the country. The Lions will head to the 2009 NorCal Invitational this weekend where the 16-team field features 15 ranked in this week's top-20. The Lions are in Bracket D with No. 4 UCLA, No. 10 Concordia and No. 17 UC San Diego. The Lions open with WWPA rival UC San Diego on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12:30 p.m.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions have come out of the gates with a strong start to the 2009 season, going 4-1 after defeating Whittier in the home opener on Sept. 12, 11-3. The win improved the Lions 3-0 against WWPA competition. With the win, the Lions remained No. 5 nationally, equalling the best ranking in program history. Sophomore Edgaras Asajavicius scored 14 goals in the four games at the Triton Invitational, and now has 15 on the season. Junior goalie Andy Stevens has made 58 saves on the season, including a career-best 17 in the win over the Waves. Juniors Tibor Forai and Daniel Smith are tied for second on the team in goals with eight while junior Andrew Aki anchors a stellar defense in front of Stevens, and leads the team with 14 steals and 13 field blocks.
THIS WEEK
The 2009 edition of the NorCal Invitational is just as grueling as the previous versions with 15 of the 16 teams ranked nationally, including the top-12. This year's field, in addition to the Lions in Bracket D with UCSD, Concorida and UCLA, includes, in Bracket A, No. 1 USC, No. 8 UC Irvine, No. 9 Long Beach St., and Pomona-Pitzer; in Bracket B, No. 2 Stanford, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 11 Pacific and No. 18 UC Davis; and in Bracket C, No. 3 Cal, No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, No. 14 Air Force and No. 12 Santa Clara.
STRONG START
Sophomore Edgaras Asajavicius helped LMU to a 3-1 record at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational, earning wins over #19 Air Force, #5 Pepperdine and Pomona-Pitzer. With the wins, the Lions moved to No. 5 in the nation in the latest poll. Asajavicius exploded offensively, scoring 14 goals in the four games, earning six of the Lions' nine goals in the 9-5 win over the fifth-ranked Waves. He also had seven goals in the 15-1 over Pomona-Pitzer. He finished the week with a shooting percentage of 53.8, added four steals, a field block and an assist to earn the WWPA Male Player of the Week honors for Sept. 9.
WINNING IN THE WWPA
The Lions have opened the season at 3-0 against teams from the WWPA, running their unbeaten streak to 20 games against the conference. They went 11-0 in 2008 and won their last six in 2007 to win back-to-back titels. The last setback was to Santa Clara on Oct. 26, 2007, 8-7 in overtime. The 19 straight continues a string of success in the WWPA, especially the WWPA tournament.
ALL-WWPA
Loyola Marymount's Andy Stevens was named the Western Water Polo Association Player of the Year in 2008, while Edgaras Asajavicius was named the Newcomer of the Year. Also earning honors in 2008 and back this season Tibor Forai, who was named second-team All-WWPA. Forai and Stevens were also named third-team All-American, along with graduated senior Tim Hummel.
National Honors
he success for the LMU men's water polo team this past season was not limited to the pool. Five Lions - Tim Heafner, Tibor Forai, Edgaras Asajavicius, Derek Milligan and Albert Samuels - have been named American Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Academic All-American for the 2008 season, putting more awards on top of one of the most successful seasons in program history. Each year the ACWPC selects student-athletes who contribute to their men's water polo program not only in the water but in the classroom as well. Three teams or levels are selected by the ACWPC. First-team academic All-American earns a GPA between 3.71 and 4.0 and is at the Outstanding level. Second-team is a 3.41-3.70 and is at the Superior level while a 3.20-3.40 is the third-team All-America and is at the Excellent level.
The Coach
John Loughran started in the 1997-98 year as head coach of the men's and women's water polo programs and by 2001, he had both programs winning titles and going to the NCAAs. He has led the Lions to a combined 13 WWPA titles (7 for women, 6 for men) and 13 trips to the NCAA Championship over the last nine years as LMU has risen to become one of the top programs in the nation. However, as he enters his 13th season, Loughran will finally have a singular focus. LMU continued its commitment to the water polo programs when LMU Athletics' Director Dr. William Husak announed in the summer of 2009 that he was going to split the programs so that each team could have the focus of a head coach the entire year, hiring former assistant Kyle Witt as the women's head coach, allowing Loughran to focus exclusively on the men's team. The committment was earned, as Loughran has led the men to 11 winning seasons and has guided the program to six conference titles and six NCAA appearances in the last seven seasons, including the 2008 WWPA title win over UC San Diego. Adding to his impressive resume, Loughran has won eight WWPA Coach of the Year honors, four in women's water polo (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) and four in men's water polo, including the honor last season (2001, 2003, 2005, 2008). Additionaly, Loughran has coached 10 different players to 18 All-America honors while having four players earn WWPA Player of the Year honors from the men's team, including Andy Stevens in 2008.
BURNS CENTER
Since it opened in the fall of 2000, the Burns Aquatics Center has seen the Lions win 14 championships, post 155 wins and has been host to two NCAA championships in just nine seasons. The Burns Center has helped the women's water polo team claim seven conference titles, the men's water polo team claim six and then the women's swim team won 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 156-48 in eight seasons. The men's team went 5-3 in 2008 and have compiled a record of 64-30 (.679) during its stay at the Center (1-0 in 2009). Their best record came in the pool's first season in 2000 as they went 10-2 (.833). The Lions played just seven games at Burns in 2007, all but one coming against teams in the nation's top-20.
