INSIDE LMU Julie Wilhoit was WCC and Region 8 Coach of the Year. (WBB-2004-WCC Champs) After women’s basketball reached a milestone in March of 2004, three months later, women’s water polo added to LMU’s history. The Lions earned a 5-4 win over second ranked Stanford in the semifinals of the 2004 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship to advance to the national title game. It was the first time any LMU team in more than 90 years of intercollegiate sports played in a title game sponsored by the NCAA. The Lions went on to drop a heartbreaker to USC, 10-8, to finish second.The Lions advanced to the NCAA tournament thanks to their fourth straight WWPA title, earning a 7-3 win at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on the LMU campus on April 25. Devon Wright earned WWPA Player of the Year honors while Head Coach John Loughran claimed his fourth straight Coach of the Year title. Teresa Guidi became the first women’s water polo player to earn first-team All-American honors. That summer a pair of Lions participated in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Christine Robinson and Rachel Riddell both played for the Canadian Olympic team that season. As 2004 continued, men’s water polo earned back-toback WWPA titles thanks to a 6-3 win over Redlands in the WWPA tournament held at Davis, CA. The Lions finished with the second most wins in program history at 21-11, defeating Princeton 6-5 to finish third in the NCAA Championships. Endre Rex-Kiss was named MVP of the WWPA while also earning second-team All-America honors. They then became the fourth team in LMU history to earn three straight conference titles, defeating UC San Diego 7-6 at the Burns Center in the WWPA Championships. The Lions fell to Stanford at the NCAA Championship in a heartbreaker, 7-6 but responded to defeat St. Francis in the third place game, 10-6. They finished the season 19-16 overall and Endre Rex-Kiss earned second-team AllAmerica honors after finishing second in LMU history with 261 career goals. In the spring of 2005, softball won the program’s second PCSC title in three years and this time earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the program’s first trip to the postseason. Also that spring, women’s water polo team set the record for wins, posting an impressive 30-7 overall record as they won their fifth straight Western Water Polo Association championship. No team in LMU history has won five straight conference titles. LMU would advance to their fifth straight NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship The 2005-2006 season saw LMU win its first-ever West Coast Conference Commissioner’s Cup for best overall athletics program in the conference. Part of that season saw Laura Mickelson placed fourth in the NCAA West Regional in the 5,000-meter to qualify for the NCAA Track Championships. She placed 22nd
overall. Men’s basketball, in the first season under Head Coach Rodney Tention, advanced to the program’s first WCC Tournament Championship since 1989, with three players earning first-team All-WCC honors. The Lions finished the WCC season at 8-6, defeated Saint Mary’s in the WCC Tournament Semifinals to advance to the WCC title game where they fell to fourth-ranked Gonzaga at the buzzer, the ninth game of the season decided on the final play or overtime. Senior Wes Wardrop and juniors Brandon Worthy and Matthew Knight all earned first-team All-WCC honors for leading the Lions to the WCC Basketball Championship game. Further history was made in 2005-06 when men’s golf won their first-ever West Coast Conference Championship. Freshman Brian Locke was the first Lion to win the individual championship as he was also named Freshman of the Year in the conference. The Lions would then place sixth in the NCAA West Regional to earn the program’s first trip to the NCAA Championships as they placed among the top 30 programs in the country. Matching golf that spring was women’s rowing with their first WCC Championship. In the fall of 2006, women’s soccer returned to the NCAA tournament for the second time in program history, led by WCC Defender of the Year Joslyn Slovek. Laura Mickelson was at it again as she won the individual WCC Cross Country Championship by more than a minute. That year also marked the 30th year Anniversary for women’s tennis, the longest running women’s program in LMU history. Since championships were created by the NCAA in 1981-82 for women’s programs, LMU women have won 20 of LMU’s 36 conference titles and have earned 21 NCAA tournament bids. The Lions most recent success was seen from their softball program as they finished its 2007 season with a program best 47-18 record, claiming their third PCSC title. In addition, the Lions won their first and second ever NCAA Tournament games, knocking UC Santa Barbara and UCLA out of the Los Angeles Regional before falling to Hawaii in the Regional final. LMU destroyed the competition in the PCSC, winning the conference with an 18-2 record, 6.5 games ahead of second place. Christine Foley was named Player of the Year, Tiffany Pagano was named Pitcher of the Year, Melissa Dykema was named Freshman of the Year and Gary Ferrin was named the Coach of the Year.
and finished the season ranked seventh in the nation. Senior Stacia Peterson is named WWPA Player of the Year, Third-Team All-American and becomes just the seventh student-athlete overall and just the second female to earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. In the fall of 2007, the LMU men’s water polo team won their fifth WWPA title in seven years despite the youngest roster in program history. The Lions defeated UC Davis 7-6 in the title game as freshmen Tibor Forai and Andy Stevens, along with junior Mark Milovic, earned All-America honors. Also in the 2007-08 season, the women’s swimming program overcame a huge deficit to claim their first Pacific Coast Swim Conference Championship. The Lions completed their first perfect season at 9-0 while Rebecca Plume, Alex Wike and Alicia Witter earned individual conference titles. All told, 11 swimmers earned All-PCSC honors in 2008. Capping the year was the women’s rowing team as their Lightweight 4 team claimed its third IRA national title with a convincing victory on Cooper River in Camden, NJ. The Lion boat of seniors Jill Austin, Jen Glassman, and Jennifer Guess (cox), along with freshmen Liz LaLonde and Mary Foster, brought home the gold 12 seconds ahead of defending champion Princeton. In 2008-09, the water polo programs added to their tradition of titles as the men claimed the 2008 title and the women in 2009. It was the sixth for the men and seventh for the women, all coming in the last 10 years. For the women, senior Nicole Hughes earned second-team All-American honors and re-wrote the LMU record book. She set the record for goals in a game (8, twice), in a season (129) and a career (320). She is the first player to score more than a 100 goals in a season and 300 in a career.
Capping 2007 was women’s water polo as the Lions won their sixth WWPA Championship in seven years
LMU Baseball
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