Water polo recap: Elite LMU humbles Rams in season opener

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By Brian O'Neill
Athletic Media Relations

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Rams knew they had a tough battle ahead of them when the No. 6 team in the nation was coming to EPIC on Thursday night. And LMU proved that it deserved that ranking, as the Lions prevailed, 19-5.

The loss, the season and conference opener for both teams and the first home game for the CSU program in two years, came at the hands of the defending Western Water Polo Association champion, a club that lost just one starter from last season, when the Lions finished fourth at the NCAA championships. LMU didn't lose a conference game in 2010, and continued that winning streak Thursday.

CSU got a strong performance from its leaders as the seniors tallied four out of the five goals, including two from Ali Pavlik. The Rams (0-1, 0-1 WWPA) came out fighting but the Lions (1-0, 1-0) proved to be too much to handle.

Rams coach Mike Moody said after the game that he has a lot of respect for the LMU program, continually good every year.

"They are currently ranked sixth in the nation, and in my opinion should be even higher," he said.

The Rams, however, did not back down the entire game. While they had strong performances out of their leaders and seniors, they also had a lot of their new players come ready to play and put on a strong performance.

"Some of our newcomers definitely stepped up tonight" said Moody. "Shelby Schaefer, Amber Bryan, Lauren Porteus as a freshman along with Stephanie Weed. They're going to be a lot of help this year."

CSU did produce more shots with 34, compared to 30 by LMU. But the Lions were getting much better opportunities, which led to higher-percentage shots.

"We made some adjustments at half which really helped, especially offensively," said Moody. "We could have taken better shots, though; a lot of our shots were very rushed."

Moody also pointed out that the EPIC pool isn't an NCAA regulation water polo venue. EPIC is 6 meters narrower and about 4 meters shorter than a regulation pool, which Moody believes made LMU even more formidable. He compared it to putting the Murderer's Row New York Yankees in a hitter's ballpark.

He added that 10 of LMU's 19 goals were of the power-play variety. The smaller pool allowed for more CSU exclusions.

The Rams now head out to Ann Arbor, Mich., on Friday morning to participate in the Michigan Kick-off tournament this weekend. CSU will face four more ranked opponents in UCLA (No. 4), San Jose State (No. 7), Indiana (No. 13) and Hartwick (No. 14) beginning Saturday.

LMU 6-6-4-3 - 19
CSU 1-1-2-1 - 5

LMU goals: Campos 5, Manke 4, Benedetti 3, Romero 2, Bonk 2, Carrillo, Castagnola, Morelos.

CSU goals: Pavlik 2, Young, Nadasdy, Berge.

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