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LOS ANGELES -- With their 10-9 win in sudden death overtime at the Burns Aquatics Center a year ago, the LMU women's water polo program capped the inaugural season within the Golden Coast Conference becoming the new league's first tournament winner. The Lions will have a chance at another first in the young conference's history, a title defense.

The 17th-ranked Lions open defense of its title at the 2015 GCC Championships on Thursday, Apr. 23, taking on Santa Clara in the first game of the tournament at 12 noon. The Championships are being held at Pacific's Chris Kjeldsen Pool. The tournament will continue on Friday with the semifinals at 1:30 and 3:00 pm, followed by the Championships Saturday on April 25. The title game is set for 2:30 pm.

The LMU Sports Network sat down with seniors Mackenzie Beck, Laura Lopez and Jordan White to talk about the upcoming GCC tournament, what its meant to them to play collegiate water polo and what's next for them following the close of their careers.

The action begins on Friday with No. 3 seed LMU (19-11, 4-2) looking for their 10th conference title since 2001 when they take on the sixth-seeded Broncos (14-13, 2-4) at 12 noon. The Lions defeated the Broncos, 12-7, on the final weekend of the regular season just six days prior. Leading the way for the Lions is first-team All-GCC selection Ivana Castro (seventh in GCC in goals with 48 and 11th with 30 assists), while the Broncos are led by fellow first-team All-GCC member Julia Peters (third in GCC in goals with 56).

Game two will feature host and No. 2 Pacific (14-9, 5-1) taking on No. 7 seed Fresno Pacific (7-22, 0-7) at 1:30 pm. Pacific, owners of an eight-game win streak that is second best in program history, moved into the No. 2 seed for the upcoming championships thanks to a two-game sweep to end the regular season at home. Leading the way was Co-Player of the Year Anna Kertes, who has been named the final GCC Player of the Week for the 2015 season. She ranks ninth in the GCC in goals (42) and tops in assists (49). The Sunbirds are led by senior goalie Kelsie Harvey, who leads the GCC in saves per game at 11.20. The Tigers defeated FPU 10-2 on April 11.

The final game of the first round on Thursday will feature No. 4 Azusa Pacific (10-15, 2-4) taking on No. 5 seed California Baptist (19-13, 2-4). The Cougars defeated the Lancers in a thriller on April 2, 9-8. They are led by GCC Newcomer of the Year Alba Espinar. The junior from Spain is ranked 11th in the GCC with 40 goals and 10th with 31 assists. The Lancers enter the Championships a win away from 20 on the season and and are paced by the GCC goals leader and first-team All-GCC selection Hannah Evans. The junior enters the tournament with 112 goals, 65 more than the No. 2 goal scorer in the conference.

Senior Anique Hermann guided No. 18 San Diego State to a 6-3 victory over UC San Diego in the Aztecs' regular season final. She shared game-high honors with two goals, had two steals and drew one ejection, which was tied for the team lead. Her two goals came on two shot attempts. She went on to be named Most Valuable Player of the Harper Cup game, the annual end-of-season matchup with the Tritons.

The Aztecs (16-14, 6-0) went a perfect 6-0 in the league play for the second straight season to earn the No. 1 seed once again. GCC Co-Player of the Year Caroline Israels leads the Aztecs into the championships. She is No. 2 in the conference with 57 goals and second in steals with 51. Fellow sophomore Ioli Benekou, who was also a first-team All-GCC selection with Israels, ranked eighth in the GCC with 44 goals and third with 50 steals.

All nine GCC Championship games will be broadcast live through PacificTigers.com. Action on Friday begins with the fifth-place play-in game at 12 noon, followed by the first semifinal between winners of games one and two playing at 1:30 pm. The winner of game three will then take on San Diego St. at 3 pm.

Championship Saturday begins with the fifth place game at 11:30 am, followed by the third place game at 1 pm, and then the 2015 GCC title game at 2:30 pm. All session tickets good for all nine games of the championships are $30 for adults and $15 for students/youth. Individual day tickets are also available.