May 12, 2010

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The LMU women's water polo team made history in 2010, becoming the first program to win eight conference crowns in LMU history thanks to their 13-10 win over UC San Diego at the Western Water Polo Association Championship on May 2. With the win, the Lions will make their eighth trip to the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship in the last 10 years. The Lions, who have equalled the second most wins in program history at 27-4, are the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed and top-ranked UCLA at 2:15 p.m., Friday, May 14. The tournament will be held May 14-16 at San Diego State's Aztec Aquaplex.

INSIDE THE LIONS
With the three wins at the WWPA Championships April 30-May 2 at Cal State Bakersfield, the Lions improved to 27-4 on the season, reaching at least 20 wins for the 10th straight year. This season the Lions have equalled the second most wins in a single season with 27 (2007), have posted a program-record 14-game win streak, are a perfect 11-0 against WWPA foes and finished 10-1 at home, second best mark since the Burns Center opened in 2001. The Lions have won 24 straight against the WWPA. It all started when LMU opened the season scoring 57 goals, the most in program history through four games. The Lions won the Triton Invitational title for the fifth time, playing in the tournament every year since 2002 and winning it in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The previous high was 41 set in 2005, the same year they set the program record for goals in a season with 379. The Lions now head into the NCAAs having scored 50 goals in three games at the WWPA Championships, a tournament record, moving their season total to 350. The Lions have been getting balance this season with seven players with 28 or more goals. Senior and WWPA Player of the Year Anne Scott leads the Lions with 54 goal, while sophomore Kimberly Benedetti scored 10 goals at the WWPAs and is right behind with 53. Junior Mary Ann Campos scored 19 goals the last seven games, including five in the WWPA title game, and has 49 on the year. Junior and first-team All-WWPA selection Diana Romero has scored 11 the last five games and has 37. Sophomore Casey Flacks, a second-team All-WWPA selection and WWPA Tournament MVP, ran her total to 36. Erin Manke, a member of the WWPA All-Freshman team, has contributed 30, while junior Daisy Carillo has 28. Kristine Cato, a first-team All-WWPA and All-Tournament selection, has made 309 saves, including 15 in the win over UC Irvine. She is allowing just 6.21 goals per game.

AT THE NCAAs
This is the Lions' eighth trip to the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship and the fourth time since it was expanded to eight teams in 2005. The Lions best finish in the tournament came in 2004 when they placed second, defeating Stanford in the semifinals but then falling in the title game to USC. It was the first time any LMU team played in a NCAA title game. The Lions are 8-9 all-time at the tournament.

THE FIELD
The Lions faced five of the teams in the 2010 NCAA tournament in the regular season, falling to Co-No. 1 USC (22-3) and UCLA (20-7), and No. 4 Cal (24-8). Combined, those are three of the four setbacks this season for the Lions. They defeated No. 20 Marist (18-15) and Pomona-Pitzer (18-14) and did not face No. 3 Stanford (24-2) and No. 6 Michigan (32-6). The No. 1 seed was awarded to Stanford (24-2) and the No. 2 seed was awarded to Southern California (22-3). Southern California will face No. 7 seed Marist (18-15) on May 14 in the first game of the championship at 12:30 p.m. Stanford (24-2) will face No. 8 seed Pomona-Pitzer (18-14) in the third game of the day at 4 p.m. The final contest of the night will pit No. 5 seed Michigan (32-6) against No. 4 seed California (24-8) at 5:45 p.m. The following conferences and institutions received automatic qualification: Collegiate Water Polo Association, Michigan; Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Marist; Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, UCLA; Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Pomona-Pitzer; and Western Water Polo Association, Loyola Marymount. The following institutions received at-large bids to the championship field: California, Southern California and Stanford.

RECORD BOOK
Many Lions have cracked the LMU record book this season, led by Anne Scott. The two-time All-WWPA selection and Player of the Year is ranked 14th and 16th with her 54 goals and 22 assists, respectively, this season. She now has 112 goals and 56 assists in her career, which ranks 10th for both all-time at LMU. Mary Ann Campos has cracked the top-10, ranking sixth all-time with 131 career goals. She is also 13th in career assists with 43. Freshman Erin Manke has made a quick impact in her first season, ranking sixth all-time with 36 assists this season. That number also ranks 16th for a career. Casey Flacks has 31 assits this season, ranking 10th, giving her 65 in her career, good enough to rank fifth. Daisy Carrillo has added 25 assists this season, ranked 13th for a single season, running her career total to 46 in two seasons at LMU, good for 11th in the career record book. Kimberly Benedetti, who is second on the team this year wtih 53 goals, now ranks 17th for a single season, just one behind Scott. Diana Romero has 37 goals this season to run her three-year total to 92, good for 13th in the career record book.

2010 ALL-WWPA
The Lions had five student-athlete named to the WWPA postseason awards list as voted on by the league's coaches. Senior Anne Scott highlights the group as she has been named the WWPA Player of the Year. The second-year transfer also earns her second consecutive first-team All-WWPA honor and is joined on that list by junior two-meter defender Diana Romero and freshman goalie Kristine Cato. It is the first time since 2005 the Lions have had at least three members on the first-team. Sophomore Casey Flacks was named second-team All-WWPA while freshman Erin Manke was named to the WWPA All-Freshman team. Scott becomes the eighth Lion to earn the WWPA's highest honor, giving the Lions a repeat winner as Nicole Hughes won in 2009. No Lion has ever repeated as WWPA Player of the Year.

20 WINS
For the 10th straight season, the Loyola Marymount women's water polo team earned at least 20 wins in a season thanks to the 27-4 mark so far in 2010. 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), 20 (2008) and 26 (2009).