ATHLETICS | The Loyola Marymount University Lions will host the 2019 West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday, Nov. 1, 2019, at Woodley Lakes Golf Course in Van Nuys, California. The Lions are host of the championships for the first time since 1981. The championships will start with the women’s 6K race beginning at 10 a.m. followed by the men’s 8K race at 11 a.m. Check in here for all the information: Meet Info | Course Map (PDF) | Live Stream | Live Results
The teams are coming off the competing in the Titan Invitational on the campus of Cal State Fullerton on Friday night. The women’s team was led by first-year student Avery Doan and redshirt sophomore Rosie Cruz. Doan was the first current Lion to cross the finish line, 8th overall at a time of 18:52.66 and was quickly followed by Cruz who finished 9th with a time of 18:54.49. Holly LaPlante posted a time of 19:13.01, which was good for 13th overall, and rounding out the top-25 finishers were Marina Soares at 21st overall with a time of 19:41.80, Gaby Guerrero at 22nd with 19:49.98 and Cynthia Melendez at 24th crossing at 19:55.55. The Lions women’s team scored 62 points, while the LMU women’s alumni team posted 68 points. The men were led by Jacob Villegas who was the first current Lion to cross the line at the Titan Invite. Villegas finished 16th overall with a time of 25:36.14 and was followed by Roberto Ruelas who crossed the line at 25:43.10 good for 18th place. Cooper McCarthy rounded out the top-25 finishers for LMU with a time of 25:59.09, which put him 23rd overall. The men’s team finished in third place and was followed by the alumni who finished fifth.
The LMU men’s soccer team played in their sixth overtime game, third straight against West Coast Conference competition, and pulled out a thrilling 2-1 victory over the University of Pacific in Stockton on Saturday night. The Lions benefited from Alex Liu’s first goal of the season and the game winner from Danny Garcia in the 97th minute. Up next for the Lions is a road date with the No. 18 San Diego Toreros on Wednesday, Oct. 30, with kickoff set for 7 p.m., followed by a Senior Night Celebration against Santa Clara on Sullivan Field this Saturday.
Despite five corner kick opportunities by LMU, the women’s soccer team was unable to get on the board in Wednesday night’s home game against Gonzaga in their first match of the week. Then, following their pregame recognition on Saturday night, it was a pair of seniors who scored for LMU to earn a split on the week. The Lions blanked St. Mary’s, 2-0, behind goals from Jackie Fiacco and Ali King. Only one game is scheduled for the upcoming week as LMU travels to Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon to face the conference-unbeaten Broncos.
For the 19th time since 1999, and seventh consecutive year, the Loyola Marymount women’s soccer team has recognized by the United Soccer Coaches announced the Team Academic Award for exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2018-19 academic year. LMU men’s soccer team also achieved the recognition for the second time since the award’s creation. A total of 999 college teams (347 men, 652 women) earned the Team Academic Award for last season. To qualify for the award, a team must have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. The LMU women’s soccer team posted a 3.42 GPA under Head Coach Michelle Myers and the men’s soccer team recorded a 3.06 under Head Coach Paul Krumpe.
The 11th-ranked LMU men’s water polo team knocked off No. 19-T Brown to open the 2019 Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament hosted by Santa Clara University, then followed with a split of their final two games of the tournament on Saturday. The Lions beat No. 15 Bucknell by a goal, 14-13, in the morning game and then dropped another tight one to Princeton, 14-12, in the afternoon session. LMU returns to the pool on Thursday for a 6 p.m. conference game at Cal Baptist in Riverside, California, before returning home to face Concordia at home on Nov. 2 at 11 a.m.
To start the week, LMU’s Blazo Mitrovic has been named Western Water Polo Association Player of the Week. Mitrovic helped lead the Lions to a perfect 2-0 record over the week, scoring a team-high 10 goals in a pair of WWPA wins. Mitrovic opened his week with a five-point outing at home against (RV) Santa Clara after sharing the team-high with three assists and adding a pair of goals in the 15-9 victory. His performance against Air Force on Oct. 19 was one for the record books. Mitrovic Scored a career-high eight goals and totaled nine assists in the back-and-forth contest to lead LMU to victory. His two fourth-quarter goals on consecutive possessions in the final four minutes put LMU ahead and helped the Lions secure a two-goal win on the road.
Facing a pair of ranked teams at home last week, the LMU women’s volleyball team fell to No. 12 Brigham Young University at home on Thursday night in Gersten Pavilion, then lost to No. 22 San Diego 3-1 on Saturday afternoon, in four games each day. The Lions hit the road to head to take on Portland on Thursday and Gonzaga on Saturday.
The LMU men’s golf team is back on the road for their fourth tournament of the fall. The Lions will spend three days in ‘Ewa Beach, O’ahu playing in University of Hawaii’s Hoakalei CC Invitational. The tournament will be played from Oct. 28-30, with 18 holes each day for a total of 54 holes. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament on Golfstat.com.
Former Loyola Marymount University standout David Fletcher was named a finalist for the 2019 Gold Glove Awards, it was announced by Major League Baseball. In his first full season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Fletcher is a finalist at third base alongside Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros and Matt Chapman of the Oakland Athletics.
Loyola Marymount University is pleased to announce a new ticketing system partner for its athletics programs for the 2019-20 season. The system will be in place for all ticketed fall sports beginning with women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer. Lions fans will no longer need to visit the LMU ticketing office to purchase tickets for sporting events. AXS, a leader in digital ticketing, has entered into a partnership with LMU for a customer-friendly ticketing platform that will streamline the ticketing experience for fans. AXS will provide LMU with a cohesive solution that integrates easy-to-use digital ticketing and marketing for the university’s athletics programs and special events. AXS will implement state-of-the-art technology solutions to ensure a frictionless purchase and mobile entry experience for ticket holders attending LMU sporting events. With AXS, LMU will enable fans to purchase mobile tickets, scan upon entry with their smart phones, manage their accounts directly from their mobile devices and seamlessly transfer or exchange tickets for events they cannot attend. AXS also enables FanSight, a virtual reality seat map that provides season ticket holders renewing or upgrading tickets the ability to sample the view from a specific seat before they purchase online.
