Sept. 3, 2010
In 2009, the LMU men's water polo program won its seventh Western Water Polo Association championship in the past nine years, claiming their third straight with a 5-4 win over UC San Diego.
The Lions then went to their seventh NCAA championship since 2001, and saw their upset bid of UCLA fall short in overtime, in a game that many said was one of the best in a long time. They went on to finish 19-9 and a perfect 14-0 in the WWPA.
But the biggest victory from a year ago was the team rallying behind Head Coach John Loughran, who three weeks after the NCAA tournament, on Christmas Day, was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. He spent the next six months undergoing aggressive treatment.
As the 2010 calendar year began, the team gathered for many functions, donating blood and platelets, holding educational events on why donating is so important and participating in a Relay for Life event on the LMU campus that was spearheaded by Assistant Coach Cara Colton.
"Going through this, the support of family, friends and Loyola Marymount has been tremendous," said Loughran. "An important aspect of handling this so quickly was the donation of blood and platelets during the critical moments of my illness by numerous individuals, many of whom I know and many that I don't know. One of the new special service projects that this program will undertake is getting the word out about the importance of donating blood and platelets."
And for 2010, the core of the Lions' program who rallied together, return stronger than ever, including their head coach, who was back on the pool deck for double days. The returning depth of the Lions has them ranked sixth in the national preseason coaches' poll and tabbed to win their fourth WWPA title in row by the conference coaches.
"We have more depth than I think we have had in my time here," said Loughran. "We have a very experienced team and if they continue to grow in their roles, we will have a chance to continue to achieve our goals."
The Lions saw just two players depart from last year's team due to graduation and return a roster in 2010 with seven seniors, five of which have played their entire career at LMU. The group - which includes Andy Stevens, Daniel Smith, Tibor Forai, Ikaika Aki and Derek Milligan - have helped the Lions win a title in each of the previous years and could become the first men's team in LMU history to win four straight titles.
Included in those returning are its top five goal scorers and the nation's top goalie at the NCAAs last year in the fifth-year senior Stevens. The two-time WWPA Player of the Year and third-team All-American goalie will be joined by the three others who claimed All-American honors in 2009, junior Edgaras Asajavicius, along with seniors Aki and Forai. For Stevens and Forai, they are three-time All-Americans. No player in LMU history, in all sports, have earned All-America honors in each of their four seasons at LMU.
Defense was the key for the Lions all year in 2009, allowing a program low 155 goals in 26 games. Stevens had a 6.04 goals against average while making 297 saves. Aki was a monster in front of the net, racking up 68 steals and 48 blocks, all among the best in program history.
Aki also had a career-year offensively, racking up 39 goals, good for third on the team. Asajavicius led the Lions in scoring with 46 while Forai had 40.
As for Milligan and Smith, they are also coming into the season after record years in 2009. Smith had career highs in almost every category, including 21 goals, four times as many as his career total entering the season. He also added 65 kickouts drawn and seven steals. Milligan more than doubled his career goal total last year, scoring 17, adding 44 steals (good for second on the team), 13 assists and seven field blocks.
Rounding out the senior class will be Zach Mix and transfer Brian Flacks. Mixx played in 22 games and will play his third season at LMU. Flacks, who graduated from UCLA in 2010, had one season of eligibility remaining and enrolled into graduate school at LMU. He played two seasons at UCLA, and then was a volunteer assistant for the women's team before enrolling in the Education program at LMU.
Sitting behind the seniors, is an experienced group of juniors, led by the All-American Asajavicius. In two seasons, Asajavicius has scored 95 goals, and will be joined by three others juniors who have played more than 35 games in their career at LMU - Charlie Horton (6 goals, 16 steals, 18 field blocks in 2009), Albert Samuels (8 goals, 12 steals, 16 field blocks), and Max Schlegel (19 goals, 11 assists, 15 steals, 9 field blocks). All four have combined to play 202 games at LMU.
Rounding out the junior class will be Michail Lapida, redshirt transfer Eric MacDonell, and redshirt Peter Phelps.
As for the underclassmen, redshirt sophomore Jon Colton leads the way, scoring six goals with 14 steals and 11 field blocks in his first season at LMU. Sophmoore Robert Pusic has played well over the summer after playing 19 games as a true freshman in 2009, and sophomore Colin Walters returns after playing 7 games a year ago.
Expected to earn playing time in their first season of polo will be redshirt freshmen John Sample, Spencer Zender, and Brenden Verloop, along with true freshmen Mark Menis (Naperville Central HS, Naperville, IL) and John Mikuzis (Neugua Valley HS, Naperville, IL).
The Lions will bring a 31-game winning streak against the WWPA into the 2010 season and will look to win their fourth consecutive title at the 2010 WWPA Championships held at Santa Clara, Nov. 19-21. LMU's regular season schedule will once again include the traditionally loaded SoCal and NorCal Invitationals, in addition to trips to Pepperdine, UCLA, UC San Diego, Cal, UC Davis and Long Beach State. The NCAA tournament will be hosted by Cal, Dec. 4-5, 2010.
- GO LIONS -
