Sept. 5, 2009

LA JOLLA, Calif. - The sixth-ranked LMU men's water polo team opened the 2009 season with a pair of wins against opponents from the Western Water Polo Association at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational on Satuday. The Lions defeated No. 19 Air Force, 12-5 and then knocked off Pomona-Pitzer 15-1.

The pair of WWPA wins runs the Lions unbeaten streak against conference opponents to 19. They went 11-0 in 2008 and won their last six in 2007 to win back-to-back WWPA title. Their last setback was to Santa Clara on Oct. 26, 2007, 8-7 in overtime.

Leading the way for the Lions to open the season was sophomore Edgaras Asajavicius with eight goals, seven coming in the win over Pomona-Pitzer. Andrew Aki added five goals while junior goalie Andy Stevens made 17 saves and the Lions defense allowed just 3.0 goals per game.

In the second game of the day, the Lions led 2-1 after Pomona-Pitzer cut the lead in half with just 21 seconds left in the opening frame. The Lions then scored the last 13 goals of the game to put the game away. They scored five straight in the second quarter to make it 7-1 at the break. Aki had three goals in the quarter. Asajavicius then put the game out of reach with all four goals in the third quarter.

Taking on the 19th-ranked Falcons in the opener, the Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals from Tibor Forai, Brian Benedetti and Dan Smith and then never looked back. The Falcons would score the next two goals to make it 3-2 just 40 seconds into second quarter.

LMU scored the next four goals and led 7-3 at the break. Forai, Smith and Benedetti had three goals each in the win. The Lions will take on No. 1 USC at 10:40 a.m., Sunday, in the first of two games in the final day of play at the Triton Invite.

No. 6 LMU 15, Pomona-Pitzer 1
PP -- 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 ---- 1
LMU -- 2 - 5 - 4 - 4 ---- 15
Goals: LMU - Asajavicius 7, Aki 3, Forai 2, Colton, Mix, Lapida. PP - Balikian.

No. 6 LMU 12, No. 19 Air Force 5
AFA -- 1 - 2 - 1 - 1 ---- 5
LMU -- 3 - 4 - 3 - 2 ---- 12
Goals: LMU - Forai 3, Smith 3, Benedetti 3, Aki 2, Asajavicius.