Nov. 11, 2010

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Senior Ikaika Aki scored a goal in each of the two overtime periods to lift the eighth-ranked LMU men's water polo team to an 11-9 win over No. 9 Long Beach State in the Lions' final game of the regular season on Thursday night. The Lions improve to 16-8 on the season and will next play in the Western Water Polo Association Championships Nov. 19-21 at Santa Clara.

Aki scored the Lions final three goals as they head into the WWPA tournament winners of three straight against teams in the nation's top-13. Junior Edgaras Asajavicius added four goals and senior Andy Stevens stopped 13 in the win.

Long Beach State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals before the Lions rallied with four-straight goals to claim a 4-2 lead in the second period. Nick Rascon answered back with his first goal of the night to cut the lead to one with 3:36 left to play in the second frame. Neither team scored after that and LMU took a 4-3 lead into halftime.

Alexasandr Petrovic tied the game at 4-4 less than a minute into the third period after The Beach denied the Lions on two 6-on-5 attempts. Dan Matulis tossed in a goal with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter to put LBSU back on top before LMU's John Mikuzis scored to tie the game at 5-5.

The 49ers went up by a goal two more times in the fourth on goals by Clute and van der Linde, but the Lions answered back each time before going up 9-8 on a goal by Aki. With 23 seconds left to go, Rascon found the back of the cage to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Aki took over and tossed in two goals to secure the 11-9 victory for the Lions, and give LMU a season split with Long Beach State.

Loyola Marymount 11, Long Beach State 9 (OT)
49er Pool · Thursday, November 11, 2010
Loyola Marymount --- 3 - 1 - 1 - 4 - 1 - 1 ---- 11
Long Beach St. --- 2 - 1 - 2 - 4 - 0 - 0 ---- 9
Goals - LMU: Tibor Forai 4, Ikaika Aki 3, Edgaras Asajavicius 2, John Mikuzis 1, Derek Milligan 1. Long Beach: Taylor Clute 2, Nick Rascon 2, Patrick van der Linde 1, Alexsandr Petrovic 1, Dan Matulis 1, Shane Luth 1
Saves - LMU: Andy Stevens 13. Long Beach: Matthew Kubeck 9.