Sept. 20, 2009

STANFORD, Calif. -- The fifth-ranked LMU men's water polo team equalled its best finish ever at the prestigous NorCal Invitational by defeating No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, 8-5, in the fifth place game at Avery Pool on the campus of Stanford University Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Lions went 3-1 at the NorCal Invite, improve to 7-2 overall on the season and defeated three top-20 teams in the process.

The formula for all three of the Lions' wins at the touranment was the same, balanced scoring and great defense. Junior goalie Andy Stevens added 12 more saves to his totals, giving him 30 on the day. He had earned a personal best 18 in the sudden-death overtime win over No. 7 UC Irvine in the first game Sunday.

Six different Lions scored in the win as Derek Milligan and Max Schlegel each had two goals.

The big push came in the third frame for the Lions. The game was tied at three entering the third quarter, but it didn't stay that way long. The Lions scored five goals in the third frame to pull away from the Gauchos. The Lions defense allowed just two goals in the second half, one in each quarter.

LMU will not get a break from the ranked as they will travel to WWPA rival UC San Diego on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. The game will be played at La Jolla High School. The Lions will then take on Long Beach State at home in the Team LMU game of the week on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 12:00 p.m.

NorCal Fifth Place Game: #5 LMU 8, #6 UCSB 5
UCSB --- 1 - 2 - 1 - 1 --- 5
LMU --- 2 - 1 - 5 - 0 --- 8
Scoring: UCSB - Golic 2, Bishop, Castillo, Wood. LMU - Milligan 2, Schlegel 2, Aki, Asajavicius, Horton, MacDonell.
Saves: UCSB - Bunn 10. LMU - Stevens 12.