LOS ANGELES - At the end of the 2023 season, the Lions took home a share of the inaugural West Coast Conference regular season championship, although that was a great accomplishment that was not enough and they look to do more in the 2024 season.
"We had a small success last year, but we are always aiming for more," says Lions Goalkeeper Stelios Dalmaras from Greece.
In the 2023 season, the Lions finished the season with an 18-8 overall record and a 5-1 conference record. Considering last season was the Lions first year competing in the West Coast Conference for men's water polo, they seemed to be able to adjust and ultimately hold their own in the conference.
Head coach John Loughran who will be entering his 28th year as coach at LMU, spoke to what makes this men's water polo team special and different from others.
"I think a number of things, I think the strengths to our program are the commitment our players have, the chemistry we have, and how we develop players as students, as athletes, and as people." Coach Loughran then went on to say, "our motto is to be drama-free and we've managed to do that these past couple of years."
During this 2024 preseason, the Lions exhibit signs of being a team that is ready to pick up where they left off last season. Lions attacker Tommaso Baldineti from Italy earned a spot on the ALL-WCC preseason team. Baldineti played in all 26 games for the Lions last season and led the team in points with 114 and goals with 75.
This kind of consistency that Baldineti is playing with speaks exactly to what Coach Loughran spoke to. Loughran said, "Their level of experience with international play and in the NCAA and helping our younger players with their development … we need them to play consistently, we need them to play motivated for us to be successful."
One thing about this water polo team is that they have a number of players from europe. What this means, is that there are players with experience in different styles of play and different styles of refereeing. Many different pieces of the Lions water polo puzzle, such as associate head coach David Carassco know the adjustment of playing styles that the European players experience.
Lions All-American Baldineti spoke to what the team is focusing on. "We have to merge the European style of water polo with the American, and we have to build that chemistry with each other, but we're definitely in a good spot to do that."
Confident that it will all come together when it needs to, Baldineti then said, "Everyone is putting 100% in."
The Lions open up the season facing both the University of La Verne and Chapman on Saturday, September 7th.
