Nov. 14, 2014
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LOS ANGELES - The 2014 LMU men's soccer season comes to a close on Saturday as the Lions honor eight seniors and host West Coast Conference rival San Diego at 7:30 p.m. on Sullivan Field. LMU will bid farewell to Bryce Bacic, Sebastian De Rada, Ryan Felix, David Flores, Connor Hunsicker, Jack McCracken, Craig Nitti, and Dylan Seedman as they take to the pitch for the final time in a Lion kit.
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LMU vs. San Diego - Saturday, Nov. 15 @ 7:30 pm - Sullivan Field
| Live Stats | Watch (LMU Sports Network)
The Lions enter their final match having played into double overtime in their last four straight outings. Three of those resulted in a tie while the fourth was won on an Alvaro Madrigal golden goal - a 2-1 victory over San Francisco. In total, LMU has had eight matches go into overtime, double-overtime at that, an all-time program high for a season.
At 8-4-6 overall, the Lions' current loss total equals the lowest in program history (also achieved in 1980, 2002 and 2013). The six ties are a program record, surpassing the 2005 season when the Lions went 7-8-5.
Defense has been the name of the game all season long as goalkeepers Vince Paldino and Paul Blanchette have combined for eight shutouts, the second most in program history. The duo has combined for a 0.71 GAA, including a 0.53 mark for Paldino. On the attack, a dozen different Lions have scored, including five goals each from Adrien Perez, De Rada and Nitti. Perez has also contributed a team-high six assists for 15 points.
San Diego enters its final regular-season match having wrapped up the 2014 WCC title last week with its 2-1 win over San Francisco. The Toreros are 10-4-4 overall and a perfect 6-0-0 in WCC play. Connor Brandt and Torrey DeArmas have seven goals apiece for USD while Brandt also leads the way with six assists. In goal, Thomas Olsen has six shutouts and an 0.82 GAA.
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 and Midseason Top 100 Players list.
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 found the back of the net five times in a five-match stretch. The Lions went unbeaten in the stretch at 4-0-1. LMU has scored four goals in a match three times this year, matching the highest scoring output since a 5-4 win over San Francisco in 2008. The feat was reached most recently in a 4-0 shutout of Pacific on Oct. 19. Adrien Perez scored his 16th career goal versus UCSB (Oct. 14) putting him in tie for 7th in the LMU career goals record book.
SERIES HISTORY VS SAN DIEGO
The Lions earned a 1-0 win at San Diego on Oct. 10 as a 67th minute goal by Sebastian De Rada stood for the balance of the match. That marked the second straight win for LMU over USD. The Toreros had won five straight meetings until a 2-2 draw in San Diego last fall. Since records began in 1981, the Lions are 13-24-4 against USD.
