CJ Neville’s early second half goal gave the Loyola Marymount men’s soccer team a 1-0 win over Gonzaga at Spokane Oct. 14, and a split in the team’s Pacific Northwest trip.
Neville, a freshman from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, converted a pass from Brandon Sanchez in the 49th minute for his second goal of the year, and the Lions’ defense held Gonzaga to just six shots — and none on net — throughout the match.
The victory followed a 4-0 defeat at Portland on Oct. 12, in which the Pilots outshot the Lions 15-5 and ran away in the second half after leading 1-0 at intermission.
The Lions are now 5-8 overall but 2-1 in West Coast Conference play as they prepare to play UCLA Oct. 20 in Westwood before resuming WCC action Oct. 26 and 28 with home matches against Pacific and St. Mary’s at Sullivan Field.
Women’s volleyball
Pepperdine’s women’s volleyball team proved too much for Loyola Marymount Oct. 13, posting a 25-18, 25-18, 25-18 win in Malibu.
The straight-set loss gave the Lions a 5-3 WCC record (15-4 overall), as Pepperdine improved to 7-1 in the WCC and 13-5 overall.
Shannon Scully, former All-CIF-SS star from Mater Dei, had a game-high 13 digs for Pepperdine while Kekai Whitford had 11 for LMU. Savannah Slattery had nine kills and Tess Reid 21 assists for the Lions, who next travel to BYU and San Diego for conference matches before returning home Oct. 25 against USF.
Women’s soccer
LMU fought back to force double overtime before San Diego scored with 90 seconds remaining for a 2-1 win Oct. 13 at Sullivan Field.
After a scoreless first half, San Diego (5-7-1, 1-3 WCC) tallied in the 51st minute before Sarina Bolden blasted in the equalizer, her team-high fifth of the year, in the 72nd minute for LMU. Bolden’s 17 career goals place her fifth on the Lions’ all-time list.
The teams continued the 1-1 battle through the first overtime and into the second, until the 109th minute when Milan Moses converted the game-winner for the Toreros.
The Lions (3-9-4, 1-3-1 WCC), who wore pink shorts and socks in the “Pride in Pink” match to raise awareness for breast cancer research, have one match this week, the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) Cup battle on Oct. 20 with Pepperdine (8-6-1, 3-1-1 WCC), 19 miles up the coast in Malibu.
Academic Honors: The United Soccer Coaches named the LMU women’s soccer team one of the Team Academic Award winners (collegiate level) in honor of exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2017-18 academic year.
It is the 18th time since 1999 and the sixth consecutive year that LMU’s women's soccer team has received the recognition. The 2017-18 team posted a collective 3.40 GPA.
"I'm always very pleased with how well our team does academically," said coach Michelle Myers. "They do have a lot on their plate with soccer, and yet they are always working very hard when we travel. We don't have to get on them; they are very self-disciplined when it comes to their academics, which is a nice thing for our coaches to have."
Men’s water polo
Playing four nationally-ranked teams at the NorCal Tournament, the Lions defeated No. 15 Pomona-Pitzer 15-14 in overtime, but lost to No. 4 California (17-7), No. 7 UC Davis (16-7) and No. 12 UC Irvine (17-10). Blaza Mitrovic scored seven of LMU’s 15 goals in the Pomona-Pitzer match, in which overtime goals by Daniel Arellano and Dayune Jagga proved decisive.
Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).
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