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LOS ANGELES - Defense of the West Coast Conference title begins Friday for LMU men's soccer as league play officially gets underway. The Lions open the single-round format at Sullivan Field, hosting the league's newest member, Pacific, in a 6 p.m. tilt. The weekend action concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. versus Saint Mary's.
On Tuesday, the Lions closed out non-conference play in convincing fashion with a 4-0 shutout of rival UC Santa Barbara. Craig Nitti scored twice and Sebastian De Rada and Adrien Perez each tallied a goal as LMU earned it's biggest win ever over the Gauchos.
Entering WCC play, Perez and Nitti are tied for the team lead with five goals apiece. De Rada has four goals and four assists while freshman Alvaro Madrigal leads the Lions with five assists.
In goal, Vince Paldino and Paul Blanchette have each started six matches and combine for a 0.78 GAA. Paldino is 4-2-0 with three shutouts while Blanchette is 2-1-3 with two shutouts.
Pacific is 2-9-0 on the year as the program competes for the first time since 1985. The Tigers' two wins came in back-to-back fashion against Cal Poly (2-1) and UC Santa Cruz (4-0). They enter WCC play riding a four-match losing streak. Tristian Blackmon has provided the majority of the offense for Pacific, tallying six of the team's 14 goals. Pacific's goalkeeper squad has allowed 32 goals through 11 matches.
Saint Mary's enters the week at 7-3-2 overall and will open WCC play at San Diego on Friday before making the trip to Sullivan Field. The Gaels have scored one goal in each of their last five matches, going 2-1-2. They had a seven-match unbeaten street snapped by a 5-1 loss to Portland on Oct. 3. Twelve different Gaels have scored this season, led by four goals, and four assists, from Michael Semezna. Andre Rawls has played every minute in goal, collecting a 1.26 GAA and three shutouts.
FOLLOW THE LIONS
LMU vs. Pacific - Friday, Oct. 17 @ 6:00 pm - Sullivan Field
| Live Stats | Watch FREE on the LMU Sports Network
LMU vs. Saint Mary's - Sunday, Oct. 19 @ 1:00 pm - Sullivan Field
| Live Stats | Watch FREE on the LMU Sports Network
LION NOTES
• Craig Nitti and Adrien Perez were named to the 11-member John Rennie/Nike Invitational All-Tournament Team
• Senior defender Craig Nitti was named to the 2014 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List
• LMU was the preseason pick to repeat as West Coast Conference Champions, earning six first place votes
• Five Lions were named to the 11-member All-WCC Preseason Team including Craig Nitti, John McFarlin, Adrien Perez, Paul Blanchette and Sebastian De Rada
• Craig Nitti and Adrien Perez were named to TopDrawerSoccer.com's College Soccer Preseason Top 100 Players list
• Adrien Perez scored his 16th career goal versus UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 10) putting him in tie for 7th in the LMU career goals record book
• Craig Nitti was named to the CollegeSoccerNews.com National Team of the Week (Oct. 5), as well as the College Sports Madness WCC Player of the Week, after scoring a pair of goals against Santa Clara and San Francisco that helped lead the Lions to a 1-0-1 weekend.
• After not scoring a goal through the first seven matches, Craig Nitti has found the back of the net five times in the last five outings. The Lions are unbeaten in the stretch at 4-0-1.
• LMU has twice scored four goals in a match, matching the highest scoring output since a 5-4 win over San Francisco in 2008.
SERIES HISTORY VS PACIFIC
Pacific men's soccer is fielding a team for the first time since 1985, but the Lions and Tigers did meet once previous to that, a 4-1 victory for Pacific during the 1983 season. Friday's meeting is the first in more than 30 years and the first as WCC opponents.
SERIES HISTORY VS SAINT MARY'S
The Lions have found success against the Gaels in recent years, winning six of the last nine meetings. LMU is unbeaten against Saint Mary's over the past two seasons with three wins and one tie. The first recorded meeting (in LMU's record book) was 1987 and since then the Lions have gone 16-19-3 against the Gaels.
