Nov. 18, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The UC Davis men's water polo team fell 9-6 to Loyola Marymount late Friday morning in a semifinal game at this year's Western Water Polo Association Championships being played this weekend at LMU's Burns Aquatic Center in Los Angeles, Calif. The No. 3 seeded Aggies will now compete for third place in the conference on Saturday against No. 5 seed Redlands.

Loyola Marymount's Matt Reynolds scored the first goal of the game less than a minute into play to give the Lions the early lead. Lion Ben Easton followed suit with a shot scored at 4:16 to stretch LMU's lead to 2-0. Trevor Long got the Aggies on the board less than a minute later scoring his first of two four-meter penalty shots. Danny Driscoll then tied things up scoring a goal with 3:15 to go in the first. Driscoll's goal was followed by a shot from Nick Arrigo that gave UC Davis a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period.

The Lions responded to the three unanswered Aggie goals with a goal from Endre Rex-Kiss 46 seconds into the second quarter. Tom Jay found the back of the net on the following possession to regain the Aggie lead. LMU'S Shaun Flood was able to convert a power play goal to tie the game for a third time. Long followed with his second four-meter penalty goal to bring the score to 5-4. As the last minute began to wind down on the first half, Rex-Kiss scored his second goal of the game on a man-up power play to tie things up at 5-5 leading into halftime.

LMU continued its pattern of scoring within the first minute of the quarter with another six-on-five goal provided by Cutberto Hernandez. Aggie goal leader Patrick Jacobson broke through the Lion defense to score his first goal of the tournament with 3:51 on the clock in the third. Shortly thereafter, Brian McShane tallied one to give the Lions the 7-6 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

In the fourth, Lion goalie Ian Elliot held the Aggies scoreless while posting five of his 12 saves for the game. Loyola Marymount was able to add two more goals to the board and come away with the 9-6 win.

With the loss, the Aggie record falls to 16-14 while LMU's record is lifted to 17-15. The Lions will advance to the championship game where they will face the No. 1 seed UC San Diego while the Aggies will play Redlands Saturday in the third place match which is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

Last year the Aggies finished fourth in the tournament and Redlands was the runner-up. The last time UC Davis took third or higher in the WWPA tournament was in 1997. The Aggies and Bulldogs have played each other twice this season, both times UC Davis has come away with a two-point win.

"I think (LMU goalie) Ian Elliot made a difference in the game. LMU did what we thought they would and they just executed better than we did. Redlands upset No. 4 seed BYU-Hawaii yesterday so it will be a big game. They are a good program and they are well coached so we are going to need to execute," said head coach Steve Doten.

                   1    2   3    4    FinalUC DAVIS           3    2   1    0      6LOYOLA MARYMOUNT   2    3   2    2      9
UC DAVIS Goals: Trevor Long 2, Patrick Jacobson 1, Nick Arrigo 1,Tom Jay 1, Danny Driscoll 1.LMU Goals: Cutberto Hernandez 2, Endre Rex-Kiss 2, Shaun Flood 2,Ben Easton 1, Brian McShane 1, Matt Reynolds 1.
UC DAVIS Goalie Saves: Mike McGee 4.LMU Goalie Saves: Ian Elliot 12.