The LoyalistLoyalistnews.org

By Alexander Erickson

The annual Loyola Blood Drive will take place next Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Xavier Hall. Last year, Cubs donated 323 units of blood.

“We would like to beat the 323 [units of blood] we had last year. Every year we try to set a new record. We are the American Red Cross’ big-gest Blood Drive in L.A. County, and we try to increase the number of units every year,” said Mr. Chris Walter, the coordinator for the Blood Drive.

Some Cubs have already signed up to donate blood. Sophomore Vincent Benlloch said, “It seems like a very accessible way to help those who need blood, and I feel it is important to join in the Loyola community for such a selfless event.”

Wanting to help others is the number-one reason donors give blood. Up to three lives can be helped by one donation. According to the Red Cross web-site, someone in the U.S. needs blood every two

seconds, and hospitals require more than 44,000 blood donations every day. Sixteen-million blood donations are collected in the U.S. during a year.

Forty percent of the nation’s blood supply is provided by the Red Cross, which began its blood program in 1940. Eighty percent of the blood donations given to the Red Cross are collected by mobile blood drives like the one at Loyola.

Mr. Walter said, “It is not too late to sign up and save a life. Students, parents, friends or alumni who are 16 years or older can come to Loyola on Thursday, Feb. 9th, and donate. If you are 16, a permission slip must be signed by a parent and turned in to the Student Center. Sign up by going to www.redcrossblood.org, click on Blood Donation Appointment, enter our spon-sor code LoyolaHigh (one word), then simply click to make an appointment. One unit of blood can save up to three lives. Save a life today.”

By Chris Kymn

During semester break, 52 juniors embarked on the annual East Coast College Tour, visiting 17 different campuses and experiencing life on the other side of the country in an opposite climate.

According to trip orga-nizer Mr. Tom Vavra, the tour first began in 1988, when he travelled east with 16 juniors. Having become a Loyola tradition for juniors these past 24 years, the tour continues to be led by Mr. Vavra and Mr. Terry Caldwell, English teacher.

Mr. Caldwell said about the trip, “The key objec-tive is to find out what's really important to getting into college. To hear that information 14 different times from different col-lege admissions officers is going to be very helpful no matter where students apply. Even if they choose not to go to the East Coast but go on the West Coast, they know what most col-lege admissions officers are looking for in applications in order to get accepted into those colleges, and that's absolutely important.”

Visiting up to three col-leges each day, students generally took a two-hour

tour of each campus. These tours usually included a talk from a college repre-sentative who told what the admissions officers look for in a student’s application, what the school’s majors are, and what it can offer students. Each talk was typically fol-lowed by an open ques-tion-and-answer session.

Cubs were also able to meet with college students about campus life and visit the dormitories as well. Juniors ate lunch and din-ner on campus “to get a really good idea of what college food is going to be all about,” according to Mr. Caldwell. In an infor-mal survey, students told Mr. Caldwell that Lehigh University served the best meals, followed by Johns Hopkins and Villanova.

Other results of this informal survey of sites vis-ited indicate that students selected Yale as having pro-vided the best presentation and the best tour. Named most attractive campus are Johns Hopkins and Yale, with Lehigh, Boston College and Harvard tied for second place.

If students could be admitted to any of the schools they visited, a majority listed their choic-

es as Yale and Harvard. As for schools for which students said they have a realistic chance of get-ting into, survey results indicate the first choice is Loyola Maryland, second is Villanova, and third is Lehigh.

To immerse themselves fully in the experience, Loyola students also visited several of the cultural and historic icons of the East Coast. They toured places such as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the Vietnam and Korean Memorials, all in Washington, D.C., and the 9/11 memorial built on Ground Zero in New York City. Juniors also saw the play War Horse at the Lincoln Center in New York.

"After the trip, I learned what aspects the top schools look for on applicants’ transcripts," said Christian Welling, a junior who attended the trip. "Now I will make sure that I have all the required classes for some of these schools complet-ed. I also now know that I have to ensure I stand out in some way other than academically to get accept-ed to these top schools."

Juniors explore East Coast colleges

Cubs donate blood

at annual drive

By Chris Franco

As Loyola French teacher Eric Beuzet recovers from a severe biking accident, Loyola has recruited Madame Rachel Harding to teach his five class-es this semester.

From the small commune of Valbonnes on the south-eastern coast of France, Mme. Harding brings years of expe-rience.

“I have been teaching for almost 15 years between here and France. I have also taught in England as well. For many of those years I was a free-lance teacher,” she said.

Mme. Harding said she is not brand new to Jesuit education: “I’ve known about St. Ignatiues de Loyola, and I know of another Loyola Catholic high school. Also, when I was in Canada, I took some classes at Concordia University at the Loyola cam-pus there. It is interesting for me to see a Loyola school here.”

So far, Madame Harding said she has a good first impression of Loyola High School: “It’s so beautiful and

exquisite. When I first arrived, I thought I was back East. Loyola’s campus has the brick buildings and well-kept gar-dens just like New England. The architecture is also similar to those of French universi-ties as well. Overall, Loyola is a wonderful school. There are also so many extracurricu-lar activities available for stu-dents. You should be proud of your school.”

On the East Coast College Tour, the juniors went sight-seeing throughout Washington D.C. Juniors Andrew Friedman and Jonathon Heinen pose in front of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial.

PHOTO BY CONNOR JOHNSON

Mrs. Rachel Harding

teaches five classes

for Mr. Eric Beuzet

Mme. Harding prepares for her next class. PHOTO BY RYDER SCHEIFELE

2 News February 3, 2012

By Harold Kim

Twenty Loyola students will be taking the National Spanish Exam online in the Dwan Computer Lab on March 13th at 8 a.m.

This test will be the first National Spanish Exam (NSE) to be administered to Loyola students since 2006. The National Spanish Exam was administered in paper form at Loyola for many years up until 2006 when it went strictly online. Inspired by Mrs. Kawamata’s and Mr. Ebiner’s efforts to help their stu-dents achieve proficiency and excellence in French and Latin, Ms. Inga Klein wanted to bring the National Spanish Exam back to Loyola.

Ms. Klein thought about bringing this exam back to Loyola for a couple of years but was held back by her fear of technology. However, when Junior Sean Dewberry came up to her and asked how he could take the National Spanish Exam, it motivated her to get the process going.

It is an experimental year for Ms. Klein as she wants to get familiar with and use the technology required to take the National Spanish Exam in the absence of a language tab. Ms. Klein said, “The 20 Loyola students that signed up for it understand that they are part of an uncharted process, and that they are helping the school establish the procedure for the online administration of the exam for a larger number of Spanish students at all levels and within a three week time frame in years to come.”

Sean Dewberry, who will be taking this exam in March, said, “It's the first time the Spanish program has done this exam in years, and it's giving us a chance to display our abilities and the things we've learned over the years. It's a little different taking a national exam online. I'm not sure how that is going to turn out, but I'm still looking forward to it.”

Ms. Klein plans to use the National Spanish Exam in order to achieve “recognition of achievement in the study of the Spanish language, promotion of proficiency in interpretive com-munication in the Spanish language, assessment according to the national standards as they pertain to learning Spanish, and stimulation of further interest in the teaching and learning of Spanish.” It will also allow the language department to create reports to show how our school has improved over an academic year based on the data from the National Spanish Exam.

She sees this exam as a helpful tool to prepare students for other standardized tests such as the AP and SATII. The games, quizzes, and practice tests provided by the National Spanish Exam website can also help students get better grades in class and expand their proficiency in Spanish. Ms. Klein said, “It's an incentive to become bilingual and to better compete in the professional world.”

By Joseph Montoya

On Tuesday morning, a record 535 Cubs

will sit for the annual American Mathematics Competition (AMC), according to Mr. Robert Eleuteri, who resurrected the test at Loyola in 2005.

The AMC has two levels: the AMC 10 and the AMC 12. Only freshmen and sophomores are eligible for the AMC 10, but any student may take the AMC 12. Both tests consist of 25 questions worth a total of 150 points. Each correct answer is awarded six points; each wrong answer, zero points. Blank answers, valued at 1.5 points in the past, are now worth 2.5 points.

For a student to advance to the second round—the AIME—of the AMC 10, he must either score 120 points on the test or finish in the top 1% of all students who took the test nationwide. To advance to the second round of the AMC 12, a student needs either to score 100 points or to finish in the top 5% nationwide.

In the past six years, 26 students have advanced to second rounds, and one student advanced to the third round, the USAMO, according to Mr. Eleuteri.

Mr. Eleuteri said that when he arrived at Loyola in 2004, he wanted to find ways to promote math. Having heard colleagues and students wonder why the test was no longer being offered here, Mr. Eleuteri said, “I felt that it was something I could offer to the school. What’s been great is that the admin-istration, the faculty and the staff, especially in the Math Department, have been very supportive and really appreciate having the contest here.”

Mr. Eleuteri said he first learned about the AMC in his first year of teaching at a public high school in New Jersey. While the major-ity of students did not go to college, Mr. Eleuteri said that some did well academically. He said he thought that the AMC, which was called the American High School Math Exam at the time, was a good way to keep those students motivated and interested in learning more math.

Mr. Eleuteri said he hopes that the AMC gener-ates more interest in mathematics classes and drives

a healthy sense of competition among Loyola stu-dents. Mr. Eleuteri compared math classes and the AMC to a soccer practice and a soccer game: “A soccer player may not want to do the running por-tion of practice, but he or she does it and becomes good at running because it is needed to become even better at soccer, the original goal.”

Cubs compete in

national exam

The weekend of January 6 was one filled with preparations by Hannon Theater Company. Thirty-eight students, nineteen alumni, and three teachers participated in Hannon Theater’s preparation for its spring musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, which premieres May 3, 2012.

Girls from a variety of schools, including Marlborough, Immaculate Heart, Marymount, Mira Costa, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Notre Dame Academy, attended as well. The weekend was divided into two parts: the First Annual Alumni Cabaret on Friday and the spring musical audition camp on Saturday.

Friday’s cabaret was the first in Hannon Theater’s history. HTC alumni performed vari-ous acts for the audience of students and par-ents. Caitlin Conway, Class of 2006, performed British singer Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Others, like Jeremy Culhane and Zack Wilson, both from the Class of 2010, improvised come-dic scenes. The night also featured a belly dance.

During intermission, members of the audi-ence took time to absorb the reality of the performances they had seen. Samantha Nagle, a student from Immaculate Heart, said, “The performances so far are truly amazing! I guess what makes the performances better is the fact that I actually get to see the people who are going to teach us tomorrow act out or sing something. It sparks this security in me to know how these alumni perform.”

The show ended with an aerial acrobatics act performed by Joseph Pinzon, Class of 1997. “It was a spectacular act,” said freshman Ben Wheeler. “Every move was breath-taking, and the performer’s moves were made with utmost care and skill.”

On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., audition-

ees divided into groups and rotated through four different classes focusing on dancing, singing, acting and improvising. Each class was led by four to five HTC alumni and a teacher. The groups were organized by vocal range.

Mr. Steven Speciale led the Song class with a practice of “Toldeo Surprise,” and “As We Stumble By.” The large group broke into small-er groups of boys and girls. Alumni provided instruction in breathing and vocalization.

Acting class was led by Eddy Quintana. “Be big!” he said. “It’s all about volume. We want to see what you are capable of.” The session began with students randomly picking a sheet of paper with lines from the play and walking around in circles. Mr. Quintana’s focus was on being big. “This play is a comedy, a parody of the 1920’s. Therefore, you have to be big and loud!”

The Improvisation class was made up of games. Jeremy Culhane and Zack Wilson led class. “Again, when you present for the judges, they will look for who is being big, who is being loud, and who is going the extra mile to show that they should earn a role,” said Mr. Culhane. The group played a game of “Shabuya Roll Call,” in which each player said his or her name and a descriptive detail. “It’s about energy!” said the instructors.

The second part of the day was composed of the auditions. Every participant was called back for a later try-out. “Each participant was just amazing,” said stage mangaer Daniel Perez, junior.

“In all,” Perez continued, “the camp and the cabaret were a huge success. We didn’t expect so many people would show up to the cabaret, and the camp really helped the auditionees. I have a strong feeling that this spring’s musical will be Hannon Theater’s best so far!”

Math competition gets

record-high participants

Alumni help HTC prepare

for spring musicalBy Christian Paz

Mr. Eleuteri hosts the AMC for the eighth consecutive year. A record

535 Cubs will sit for the exam next Tuesday. Testing will take place

in Loyola Hall. PHOTO BY ALEX ALVARADO

February 3, 2012 3Opinion

The LoyalistJunior Edition

Editors-in-Chief

Nicholas Knoll & Patrick Trujillo

News Editors

Kenneth An & Chris Franco

Opinion Editors

Justin Abello & Brandon Kim

Feature Editors

Corbin Cahalan & Andrew Wallender

Arts & Entertainment Editors

Christian Paz & Tristan Vanech

Sports Editors

Brandon Dempster & Patrick Finnegan & Jonathon Heinen

Website Editor

Nicholas Froelich

Photography Editor

Alex Alvarado

Layout Editor

Chris Kymn

Contributors: Griffin Cohen, Alexander Erickson, John Kensinger, Harold Kim, Jared Kracoff, Chris Kymn, Cameron Laine, Joseph Montoya, Alexander SwainPhotographers: Michael Alvarez, Eric Contreras, Ryder Scheifele Bussiness Manager: Patrick TrujilloModerator: Mrs. Mary Arney

THE LOYALIST Editorial PolicyThe Loyalist is the official student newspaper of Loyola High

School. Its goal is to provide a forum to serve the entire community--

students, faculty and administration.

All opinions expressed in The Loyalist are the opinions of the

writers themselves. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view

of the editorial board and do not necessarily represent the opinions of

Loyola High School. Editorials representing individual opinions will

be signed by the writer.

Contributions to The Loyalist in the form of suggestions and

written submissions are encouraged by the staff. Submissions must be

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The Editors-in-Chief bear prime responsibility for the contents of

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Subscription requests should be sent to Loyola High School, care of

the Business Manager.

By Brandon Kim

Man for others: the mantra that defines Loyola students. In less than a week, stu-dents have the opportunity to live this mantra at the annual blood drive next Thursday. Certainly, donating blood is an altruistic act that saves countless lives.

The daily announcement has given the incentive of last year’s Blood Drive T-shirt in addition to this year’s T-shirt. Just as well, snacks such as sandwiches, juices and cookies are provided, and students are able to miss class time while donat-ing. While snacks, missing class and shirts are comforts to interest students in giv-ing, few donors claim to be lured solely by the material “perks” of giving blood.

Some donors want to be part of a community where more than 12 million have experienced this rite of passage, kind of like earning a driver’s license. Last year 250 Cubs built camarade-rie as they worked for this good cause.

Some donors say they feel a sense

of civic and social responsibility, exem-plifying a “commitment to justice.”

Most donors find saving lives is the primary reason that people donate blood. According to the American Red Cross, a person needs blood in the United States every two seconds; a unit of blood can save up to three of those people. With that amount of blood needed, close fam-ily or friends could be in need. Donating blood is a win-win scenario: Donors feel good about giving; recipients feel bet-ter with blood. Donating blood undoubt-edly exemplifies the “man for others.

Junior Isaac Sornborger, who donated blood last year, said, “I gave mainly because it’s a really good feel-ing to contribute to those who would need medical help from a blood donor.”

As Mr. Chris Walter, Director of Student Activities, said, “Students who donate are not only saving lives but are giv-ing back to the community. You never know when you or a loved one will need blood, and in that situation you would

hope there would be others who are donating to help you or your loved one.”

With all these benefits, why might someone choose not to donate blood?

One primary reason is a fear and anxiety for needles or pain. However, being able to conquer this fear by giv-ing blood exhibits being “open to growth.” In addition, a person gains a more mature perspective when fears become second to lives that can be saved.

Sornborger said, “I was a little ner-vous at first, but I grew confident when I saw the nurses helping others.”

Mr. Walter advises first-time donors who might be anxious: “Eating a nice solid breakfast and staying well hydrated are also good ways to make the pro-cess go smoothly. For just a little prick in the arm and thirty minutes of your time, you will save two to three lives.”

Another reason people are reluc-tant to donate is ineligibility, whether because of health or age. Mr. Walter suggested, “Students can help out by

promoting the Blood Drive and trying to get their classmates and friends to sign up and donate.” After all, Loyola students are “developing as leaders” who can lead others to donate as well.

In addition, while ineligible students cannot skip class at the blood drive, stu-dents can still find volunteer opportuni-ties with the American Red Cross. Mrs. Carolyn Humphrey, a spokesperson from the American Red Cross said, “We are always short of volunteers, and this [volunteering] is just as valuable to us.”

Students, parents and friends of Loyola donated a total of 323 units of blood last year, surpassing the American Red Cross’s expectation of 302 units. The Red Cross esti-mated those units saved around 735 lives.

Regarding expectations for this year, Mr. Walter said, “We are trying to donate in the 340- range this year.” Members of the Loyola community are known for consistently going beyond what is expected, a tradition that should be continued in the Blood Drive.

Blood drive draws out the best in us

By Justin Abello

On the morning of Jan. 18, the first day of finals at Loyola, many students tried to access Wikipedia for some last-minute cramming before their tests but were surprised to find that the popularly used website was completely “blacked out.” Wikipedia purposely shut down for the day in protest. In fact, the whole Internet seemed up in arms over two previously overlooked Congressional bills.

The bills causing all the commotion were the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) being considered in the House of Representatives and its counter-part in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Currently, decisions on the bills have been delayed.

Protests over the bills were seen all over the Internet, ranging from links to anti-SOPA/PIPA material on 9gag and Tumblr to self-imposed black-outs in websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla and Wordpress. Why all this online hostility?

SOPA/PIPA were meant to address piracy issues on the Internet, in particular foreign websites illegal-ly distributing and streaming copyrighted material.

Backed mainly by the music and movie industries, SOPA/PIPA would create a system enabling the shut-down of websites that illegally post copyrighted con-tent and the prosecution of those website owner(s).

The bills’ opponents say that the power to shut down and restrict access to websites is censorship and an overstep on people’s First Amendment right to free speech, but the bills’ supporters point out their sole purpose is to address piracy more effectively.

While the protection of intellectual property and the fight against online piracy are honorable and moral pursuits, SOPA/PIPA’s faulty ideas and inef-fectiveness cause the bills to be flawed and may have some major unintended repercussions if passed.

One example of the bills’ defective ideas is their unfair, illogical punishments.Under cur-rent anti-piracy laws, known as the Safe Harbor Policy, unless a website is explicitly and active-ly participating in piracy, it cannot be held responsible for the actions of its users. In simple terms, responsibility and punishment are placed on the individual user, not the entire website.

So when a user on Youtube uploads copy-righted material, the violating video is removed by the Youtube staff, and repeated violations lead to the deletion of the account.

Under SOPA/PIPA, however, a “secondary liability” rule states that websites are respon-

sible for the actions of all its users, so if one person on Youtube posts copyrighted material, the whole website can be taken down indefi-nitely, a punishment that denies due process.

Though possible under SOPA/PIPA, it is unlikely that website giants such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter will be completely shut down for one instance of copyright infringement, but the bills could lead to increased blocking of content and restrictions of major parts of those same sites, leading to a limited use by foreign activ-itsts and the stifling of future online innovation.

Along with being, the bills are ineffective. They call for the use of DNS blocking, a kind of website censorship method also used in China, Iran and Syria to shut down illegal websites, but ways exist to circumvent such systems.

Piracy is a problem, but broad, sweeping legis-lation is not the way to address it, and the failings of these bills stem from “a deeply flawed under-standing of how the Internet works,” Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, a British civil liber-ties campaign group, told the British news web-site dailymail. Lawmakers behind these bills may be dealing with a field they are unfamiliar with.

An alternative method is offered up by Gabe Newell, the CEO of Valve, a gaming com-pany that runs the largest digital distribution platform in the world. Valve is directly affect-ed by piracy as many people pirate its games, and yet the company is opposed to SOPA/PIPA.

Newell, in an interview at The Cambridge Student Online, said, “Piracy is a service problem. The way to defeat piracy is to pro-vide a better service than the pirates.”

Instead of directly going after pirate web-sites, companies could make the distri-bution and sale of their material much more convenient, offering up better rates and qual-ity. People will likely choose a better, easier ser-vice over hunting online for pirated material.

The success of Newell’s kind of thinking is seen in Valve’s having converted many gam-ing pirates to Steam, Valve’s online gaming division, and other companies bringing over music pirates to work with the music indus-try in places like Spotify, Pandora and iTunes.

While SOPA/PIPA have good intentions, many particular details are unreasonable and ineffective, making them too flawed to be passed. Possible nega-tive repercussions far outweigh any possible benefits.

SOPA, PIPA: bad

bills, good intentions

4 Feature February 3, 2012

SAT: more than standard aptitude According to the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers

the SAT, more than two million students took the SAT last school year. Loyola’s average SAT scores rose above average scores of other Jesuit high schools, of California and of the nation.

The SAT consists of three sections: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Critical Writing. The College Board made public that the nation’s average read-ing and writing scores were the lowest ever recorded: Critical Reading, 497; Mathematics, 514; and Critical Writing, 489. Loyola’s average scores are higher: Critical Reading, 607; Mathematics, 619; and Critical Writing, 624.

Chair of the English Department Mr. Jason Schmidt, who teaches English II and AP English III, explained that, similar to the Math Department’s meth-od of integrating SAT-type problems into the daily curriculum, the English Department cross-references the grammar taught and the grammar found on the SAT.

Dr. John Vella, who teaches English I and AP English III, said that teachers of juniors “review the most common grammatical and writing errors in the fall semester prior to the PSAT” and “offer instruction in writing the essay for the SAT, though this is most often taught in the spring semester.”

Ms. Lynch, who teaches English III and three senior electives, said that her classes utilize the College Board’s SAT guidebook to prepare for the essay portion of the SAT and the junior vocabulary book to prepare for the Critical Writing sections.

Mr. Thomas Marsh, who teaches English III and Modern American Novel, said that he presents his classes with sentence models similar to those seen on the SAT and expects careful annotation of all material read in class to help pre-pare students to become more successful in the SAT’s Critical Reading sections. He said he also comprehensively reviews grammatical concepts prior to the PSAT and gives students timed essays that hone their skills for the SAT Writing sections.

Students also tend to realize their lack of vocabulary mastery after the exam. Mr. Schmidt said that students should study vocabulary lists and, more impor-tantly, read more. A strong vocabulary can possibly raise a student’s score by 50 points or more. Mr. Schmidt emphasizes that students should take practice tests to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses and then find a program to confront the weaknesses. Although there are many ways for students to receive instruction and aid on the SAT, students won’t see a large growth in their scores without commitment.

Loyola counselor Mr. Thomas Gallagher said that the best test preparation consists of a challenging curriculum during a student’s high school career. The majority of colleges requires a score from either the SAT or ACT, another stan-dardized test that can be submitted to colleges. The tests are an integral part of validating a student’s high school grades. Mr. Gallagher said, “Every student should do some preparation for these tests.” Juniors take the PSAT in the fall, and upon receiving their results, they can meet with counselors to go over their test results and to create a plan to prepare for the SAT.

Loyola prepares its students for the SAT through its own curriculum. Chair of the Math Deparment Mrs. Emily Villa de Rey, who teaches Honors Precalculus and Trigonometry, said that Loyola’s math curriculum stresses the importance of problem-solving through both analytical and critical thinking. Not only do these problem-solving skills help students to present better results on standardized tests, but they also prepare students to face challenges in their future careers. Mrs. Villa de Rey said, “We do not teach to any particular test, but instead teach with this larger goal in mind.” Realizing the importance of students’ scores on the SAT and ACT, teachers of the Math Department will often review problem types that parallel those of the standardized tests. Several teachers present worksheets or activities compiled of SAT-type questions that relate to the current material being taught.

Mr. Kelly Nicholson, who teaches Geometry and Algebra II, explained that any time material covered in class parallels the types of problems seen on the SAT, he will make sure to point it out to students. Mr. Nicholson said that a large factor in preparing students for the SAT is “eliminating the fear that sur-rounds the SAT,” and the best way to eliminate this fear is to expose students to the test through repetition and practice.

Mr. Allen Martin, who teaches Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics, said that instead of teaching students math specifically from the SAT, by “learning in depth and building understanding in a comprehensive way he advocates,” students are able to acquire and strengthen their math-ematical reasoning skills.

Mr. Rob Eleuteri, who teaches Honors Pre-Calculus and AP Calculus AB, had input similar to Mr. Martin’s. He said that by stressing algebraic patterns and distinctions that are commonly seen throughout algebra, the skills needed to succeed on the SAT become “inherent.”

Mrs. Judy Dell’Amico, who Honors Algebra II and College Algebra, pres-ents her classes with worksheets designed to model SAT-type questions. She said, “A big part of the SAT is familiarity with how the questions are written and how to approach certain types of questions. Students need to solve the equations, plug in the answer choices, and look for patterns.”

With options consisting of professional tutors, testing companies, Loyola’s own SAT prep program, or even simply buying the College Board’s SAT prep book, students have several choices to make.

Outside Loyola numerous companies, such as Elite, Compass, Revolution Prep, Eureka and Princeton Review, provide both group and one-on-one SAT tutoring sessions. Some companies, such as Revolution, even tutor online via a form of computer chat. Although certain courses can be, as junior Calvin Yi said, “really intense and leave you with very little time for other things,” they also provide excellent foundations to help students raise their scores. Yi said that his score rose from 1840 to 2160 after participating in one course. Yi said, “The course really helps, but only if you can commit yourself to it.”

Similarly, junior Michael O’Callahan had a positive experience with a prep course, say-ing, “Compass taught good strategies for breaking down questions and also gave valu-able practice.” He later took a second prep course.

Senior Jake West, who is a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist, participated in a non-Loyola prep course as a junior. He said, “It helped prepare me pretty well. They made the SAT easier to understand by showing me the tricks and helpful hints.”

Junior Griffin Cohen, who took a summer SAT course, said, “I think it helped, but just practicing on your own would help, too. Taking the class can't hurt, though.” Cohen also said, “The reading strategies were the most helpful, and just taking the test multiple times was also helpful.”

Additionally, Mr. Terry Caldwell and Mr. Nicholson teach Loyola’s SAT preparation course. Loyola’s SAT course lasts eighteen days, allocating nine days for reading/writing and the other nine for mathematics. Students say that Loyola’s course is less rigorous than outside courses and is also much cheaper. The course costs around $60 as opposed to out-side companies that charge anywhere from $400 to $2500. Dedicated students taking the Loyola’s course generally see a 50-150 point increase in their score. The course covers key information, examples and practice problems and a full practice test. The reading/writ-ing portion, led by Mr. Caldwell, covers active reading, essay writing and basic grammar. During the math portion, led by Mr. Nicholson, students take three full exams and are provided with explanations for the problems on the test.

The use of Naviance’s online SAT prep is also beginning to be implemented into the curriculum by teachers who are using the resource to present sample problems from the SAT and enhance familiarity with the test. Through Naviance's 20-week online course, Loyola students can practice at their own pace. Naviance provides numerous audio, visual and written explanations for all types of problems.

Mr. Schmidt said that he strongly believes in preparation courses, especially because students need someone to show them the tricks that experts know. He said he advises stu-dents to be wary of some companies that have instructors simply read off of a script during their courses instead of utilizing an instructor that is truly an expert on the test. Overall, Mr. Schmidt said he believes that taking a prep course is a “strong move in the right direc-tion,” and if a student is looking for a high-percentile score, he needs expert outside help.

Also important is that students take a diagnostic test to help them decide which prep route to undergo. Generalized prep courses apply to students looking to raise scores above 500 in individual sections. Students who want to achieve strong scores of 680 to 720 or higher need more individualized tutoring. Mr. Schmidt said he also supports Loyola’s prep course because it caters to Loyola’s demographic. Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Caldwell generally know Loyola students’ strengths and weaknesses. For example, they know that the Critical Reading section is typically the most challenging section for Cubs.

English Preparation

Math Preparation

Outside Help

Loyola's SAT Prep Course

By John Kensinger

February 3, 2012 5Feature

Alum leads California delegation to RNC

In 2010 Moran took his media skills back to campaigning as he served as the communications director for Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley in the race to become the State Attorney General. Although unsuccessful, Moran said that their cam-paign was the only one last election cycle “that did not get flushed.”

Moran went back to Washington, D.C., in January 2011 to film the pilot for a polit-ically-themed reality television show. E! chose to run Ice Loves Coco, a reality show fol-lowing the life of rapper/actor Ice-T and his wife Coco, instead.

In spring of last year, Mayor Michael A. Gin of Redondo Beach ran for Congress, and Moran became a campaign manager for the first time in his career.

Until Jon Huntsman’s withdrawal from the presidential race, Moran served as the national gay nundraiser for Huntsman’s campaign. Moran said, “We’ve never had a position like that on a Republican campaign before, so I’m basically creating a little bit of history there.”

Moran is currently doing fundraising and organizational management for Kevin James, a Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for Southern California.

While consulting has always remained a part of his career, Moran is putting most of his attention on the 2012 GOP Convention. He said, “It’s the week where we as the Republican Party show America who we are and what we believe, highlighting our candidate. So it’s an extremely ‘impactful’ week. I’m really excited to do that.”

Moran offers a vision for the future innovation of politics: “It’s harder to change the Party from the outside than from within. So that’s why people like me stay inside, because you can really only change the Party from the inside.”

By Tristan Vanech

After ten years of political organization, management, fundraising, and cam-paigning for everything from local races to presidential-level events, Charles T. Moran, Class of 1999, is currently the Executive Director of the California Delegation for the Republican National Convention (RNC). He attributes the beginning of his involvement in politics to his sophomore community service when he interned for U.S. Congressman Steven T. Kuykendall.

Moran's vocation to politics, however, was not apparent at first. He said, “I really wanted to be a pilot, and I love airplanes. My mom was a flight attendant and my dad was a firefighter.”

Although he was involved in Speech and Debate, Moran’s participation in the political world was prompted by an outreach to his local paper. This “most pivotal point” of his sophomore year, according to Moran, occurred when he wrote a letter to the editor in response to another letter to the editor complaining about a Kuykendall postcard asking constituents to prioritize issues; the writer thought Kuykendall was wasting money.

Moran said, “I was happy that my legislator was asking me what I thought that they should be doing, so I wrote a letter to the editor back, defending my assem-blyman.” The next Sunday, Kuykendall offered Moran an internship at his district office.

“Most interns only lasted eight to six weeks because a lot of them saw this off as busy work, but I really liked it. I was really interested in what we did and got to watch the other staff. It was a Friday afternoon and all they wanted to do was go home, but that was my time when I actually got to do something.”

In his junior year at Loyola, Moran began campaigning for Kuykendall, who was elected the following year to the House of Representatives for California’s 36th Congressional District. Upon graduating high school, Moran became a paid staff person for the congressman.

While earning his bachelor’s degree in Politics at Occidental College, he served as Deputy Finance Director at the California Republican Party. Moran’s next goal, which included political fundraising, took him to a private consulting firm where he worked extensively on fundraising for campaigns across the nation. In addition to statewide and Senatorial politics, Moran worked on President Bush’s reelection campaign.

“By the time I graduated from Occidental, literally in my graduation ceremony, I was arranging President Bush’s first reelection fundraiser here in Los Angeles.”

Staying in Los Angeles, where he had developed a “really strong network,” Moran decided to attend graduate school at Pepperdine University, while simultaneously campaigning for Kuykendall, who was running again for the State Assembly seat.

At the 2004 RNC in New York City, Moran and his fundraising team were dispersed with the media because, according to him, fundraisers have less to do during the actual event. He said, “They figured out really quickly that I could actually string together two sentences really well and looked and appeared well on TV and had my act together and could think quickly, think on my feet when I’m talking on a camera, all of which goes back to my training from Loyola doing Speech and Debate.”

Moran earned his Masters of Public Policy from Pepperdine in 2005 and then went back to fundraising, but the field of media drew him in again with the 2008 RNC in St. Paul, Minnesota. Directing the media and communications operations for the California Delegation, Moran served as liaison and spokesperson to both local and national media.

After the 2008 elections, Moran decided to take some time off, but before long he was back in media and communications. “While I work professionally in politics, I do some volunteer work on the side, and one of the groups is called Log Cabin Republicans, which is the national organization of gays and lesbians who are involved in the Republican Party, and had been involved as a volunteer at the local and state level,” he said.

Moran said that he hopes to advocate people being open to who they are and serv-ing as role models for others, regardless of their background. He said, "Our sexual orientation has nothing to do with a lot of state and public policy positions. You can be openly gay and have a home in the Republican Pary."

Log Cabin Republicans asked him to be their national spokesperson and press secre-tary, and Moran accepted. For the next two years, he appeared several times on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

“That first week that I was doing work with Log Cabin Republicans, I was on CNN every day for a week, which was a phenomenal experience—trial by fire, not having a lot of on-screen professional experience, but still having the opportunity to try it out.”

Moran has also written published opinion-editorials in The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. According to him, writing op-eds is very different from speaking in sound bites on television. He said, “Sometimes you’ve got to make state-ments and one-liners, other times you need to have a fully developed argument that you have a lot of space to be able to explain.”

There are downsides to being on national television, he explained, such as hav-ing “to hide a lot of stuff on Facebook and Twitter.” He warned anyone interested in being involved with media, “When you’re in the public eye, you become a target. When you’re out there and you’re publicly exposed, you have to take responsibility for what comes out of your mouth and be prepared to deal with the consequenc-es.”

Early Life

RNC and Log Cabin Republicans

Writing and Media

Present Life

Senior Charles Moran talks to his group during the Fresman Retreat.

Courtesy of Charles Moran

Photo courtesy of El Camino 1999

6 Arts & Entertainment February 3, 2012

By Patrick Trujillo

Many young boys and girls dream of becoming rock stars, and for most it is just a dream. However, junior Avery Schwartz has been able to turn that dream into a rocking reality with his band Dead Off Center.

Schwartz’s band has been doing better than the average band started among a group of friends. The band and its m a n a g e m e n t have been able to secure perfor-mances at local clubs, and just last month they traveled across the United States to per-form live shows.

S c h w a r t z said, “We've played at local rock clubs like Whiskey-A-Go-Go and the Key Club; we've also played at a few fundraisers in La Cañada, our home town. Our nation-wide tour start-ed on January 15th, but we'll go through April to cities like Greenville, Dallas, and Detroit. We're finishing off with the Indie Music Fest in Las Vegas which we’re super excited about."

By the end of the tour, the band will have played in twelve cities

across the country. Their next show is this Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina, and the clos-est show they have to Loyola is in Irvine on Sunday, March 18.

Together for several years, the group plays pop and alter-native rock and roll. In addi-tion to Schwartz, who plays guitar and sings, his two good friends from middle school com-plete the band. Eric Bumb, who

attends Edison High School in Huntington Beach, plays drums; and Josh Carter, who attends Saint Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge, accompanies Schwartz on guitar and sings.

Schwartz said, “We got togeth-er for a talent show in fifth grade, been together since, and now we’re sixteen; it’s been a long road."

Dead Off Center has tran-sitioned from covering the songs of other bands to writ-

ing their own songs, eventu-ally leading to a national tour.

“We started performing cov-ers but wrote our first song short-ly after we formed. It sound-ed like a first song, too! Now, we write and produce all our own material,” said Schwartz.

Schwartz said the band’s man-agement has certainly contrib-uted to its success: “We planned the trip through our manage-

ment and pro-duction team headed by Jay Ward and two independent financiers, one of whom works at Capitol Records. We're touring with a dance conven-tion called Los Angeles Dance Magic, and we will try to

get involved with charity events going on in the different cities we visit. Also, later this year we might embark on touring col-lege campuses in California.”

As for Dead Off Center being Schwartz’s career, he said, “We're all having a lot of fun, so we’ll see where it takes us! We’ve been lucky to have had great sup-port and mentors along the way. Music isn't our goal. It's our life.”

Avery Schwartz on target

with band Dead Off Center

By Jared Kracoff

Blasting music. Blinding lights. A deafening sound rings throughout the entire Downtown Los Angeles area. These sounds can only be coming from a Loyola dance.

At tomorrow night’s dance, “Illuminance,” English teacher Mr. Doug Brown will turn the tables and dish out the beats.

Mr. Brown, otherwise known as “DJ BrownTown,” said he has been a DJ for almost five years. Influenced by the styles of fel-low DJ Avicii, DJ Premiere, and Afrika Bambaataa, Mr. Brown said, “It sure is a blast to DJ at these huge events. I love playing that old school R&B, Hip Hop and Indy Electronic. I’ve really planned my sets for this event. Loyola’s got a set style they want me to stick to, so expect a

rave-like atmosphere. But don’t count out all those others styles. There’ll be a little of everything.”

As for surprises planned for the dance, Mr. Brown said, “Well, yeah, of course, there are going to be surprises; but you’ll have to go to find out what they are. Just know I won’t be the only DJ up there. I’ve got some special and surprising guests. I mean, they could be anybody. Heck, Mr. [Michael] Lew is a DJ, and Mr. [Jamal] Adams and Mr. [Eric] Healy could total-ly DJ as well, but hey, don’t let me give too much away.”

Doors into Xavier open at 8 p.m. and close at 9 p.m. Boys must have a valid Loyola High School ID, and girls, who also need a valid high school ID, can purchase tickets at the door for $10 each. Pre-sale tickets are also on sale in the Student Center.

Mr. Brown to be DJ

tomorrow night"We got together for a talent show in fifth grade, been together since, and now we're sixteen; it's been a long road."

—Junior Avery Schwartz

February 3, 2012 7Sports

By Griffin Cohen

Loyola preaches brotherhood. The 2012 Varsity

Basketball team takes it a step further. Meet Jacob,

senior, 3-point sharpshooter. Meet Max, fresh-

man, the future of Loyola basketball. They are the

Hazzards. Brothers at home, teammates on the court.

Jacob said, “It’s really cool and has always been a dream

of mine to actually get to play with my little brother, and it

just makes it much more special that it’s my senior year and

his freshman year. We have a chance to do something great.”

This season marks the first time the broth-

ers have played on the same team. But they’ve

been bonded by basketball for their entire lives.

“We started playing outside [as kids]

together as soon as we could,” said Jacob.

Now, this season, with the Cubs focused

on CIF and state championships, the Hazzard

brothers are helping to lead the way.

With their brotherly intuition, the

Hazzards may bring the Cubs an advantage.

“I’ve watched Max play so long, I know his tenden-

cies,” said Jacob. “He knows where I’m going to be

and I have an idea what he’s going to do. Sometimes

we make plays and don’t even speak—it just hap-

pens cause we know what the other is thinking.”

Younger brother Max agrees: “I know where Jacob’s

hotspots are—where he shoots his best. So, as a point

guard, it’s my job to get him good quality open shots.”

Averaging about three three-point shots

a game, Jacob will continue to play a key role for

the Cubs with his strong outside shooting.

A freshman making the varsity team, espe-

cially with the strength of this year’s team, is rare.

“I was excited and really proud that Max made var-

sity,” said Jacob. “I knew it was a goal of his and I just

wanted him to show everyone how good he really was.”

It’s often easy for a younger brother to get caught

in his older brother’s shadow, but not in this case.

“Jacob is a great shooter and will go down as a memo-

rable player at Loyola, but at the same time, I have my own

name and my plan is to do extremely well these next three

years on varsity and hopefully get 8 rings, one from CIF

and one from state championship each year,” said Max.

And Max has already been mak-

ing an impact on the team by con-

tributing off the bench this season.

“He has a great ability to attack the

basket, and his ability in the open court

is something I envy; he has a complete

game and is going to have a great bas-

ketball and Loyola career,” said Jacob.

In just twenty-two games this season, both

Max and Jacob have put up impressive stats.

The two combine for 227 points on the sea-

son, while shooting 51% from the field. Jacob

alone has had 45 three point shots made.

However, like any siblings, the

Hazzard brothers admit to some-

times getting on each other’s nerves.

“We have our ups and downs, but at the

end of the day, we have a lot more ups than

downs,” said Max with Jacob in agreement.

But for Jacob, who plans to play next

season in the NCAA, this year is very bit-

tersweet: “It’s my last year before college,

so I’m glad I get to spend a lot of time with

Max, since he’s my best friend as well.”

In just twenty-two games this season, both

Max and Jacob have put up impressive stats.

The two combine for 227 points on the sea-

son, while shooting 51% from the field. Jacob

alone has had 45 three point shots made.

This season is even more poignant to Jacob

and Max, as their grandfather and mentor, Walt

Hazzard, died last November at age 69. The

elder Hazzard led UCLA’s undefeated cham-

pionship team of 1963-64 and was a NBA all-

star and was later head coach for the Bruins.

Walt Hazzard had a stroke the year

Max was born, impairing his ability

to speak, but the brothers still say they

learned a lot from their grandfather.

“He would give us both looks, and we knew what

they meant. He would tell us to get our elbows in when

we shoot and make sure we were in balance,” said Max.

In respect to his grandfather, Jacob said, “He taught

me a lot about basketball and just how to fight—

how to keep fighting even when it gets tough. That’s

what he did while in the hospital, so I have to do

the same thing in all aspects of life. And he always

told me, ‘shoot, shoot, shoot,’ so that’s what I do.”

Hazzards on the court: a dangerous duo

The Patriots and the Giants will face off this

Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI to determine the

champion of the National Football League (NFL).

Based on the Giants relentless nature of never giv-

ing up, I predict they will defeat the Patriots.

A mere four years ago the same opponents

faced each other for the same title. Then,

the undefeated Patriots (16-0) were heavily

favored, while the Giants had suffered six

losses during the regular season, barely earn-

ing a wild card berth. Fighting the odds, the

Giants overcame the Patriots in an event-

ful game in which Eli Manning was named

MVP for completing 19 of 34 passes for 255

yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

This year will be similar to the game in

2008. With an effective offense and a stalwart

defense, the Giants will be able to push the

ball down the field on the Patriots’ defense

and contain Tom Brady’s elusive offense.

This year’s Patriots have a record of 15 wins

and 3 losses, while the Giants are 12 and 7.

Since the year 2000, Tom Brady has been

the starting quarterback for the Patriots; and

with him at the helm, the team has made it

to the Super Bowl five different times and

won three of those five Super Bowl appear-

ances. Backed by experience, Brady undoubt-

edly has what it takes to lead his team to

victory, even with the heavy roster changes.

Even though the Patriots are returning to the

Super Bowl with only seven players who played

during their last Super Bowl, they have an

arsenal of weapons on both sides of the ball. In

their record-breaking 2007 season, the Patriots

were ranked sixth in the NFL for defense; how-

ever, this season the Patriots are ranked second

to last in the NFL. The Patriots also had Randy

Moss who came up with 98 receptions and 23

touchdowns, but now that he is gone, Brady

had to find new superstar targets for his passes.

Brady’s needs were fulfilled with star tight

ends Rob Gronkowski, otherwise known as

“Gronk,” and Aaron Hernandez, along with

wide receiver Wes Welker. Between “Gronk”

and Hernandez, the Patriots’ tight ends have

accounted for 169 catches, 24 of which were

touchdowns receptions. Welker caught 122 pass-

es for 1,569 yards with 9 touchdowns this season.

This strong receiver core may pose a threat to the

Giants’ defense backs. In order for the Patriots

to win, they must take advantage of the Giants’

defensive struggles and dominate on offense.

Historically, the Giants have seven NFL

titles since the establishment of the franchise, a

feat which ranks third among the league’s fran-

chises. Since Head Coach Tom Coughlin and Eli

Manning joined the team in 2004, the Giants made

the playoffs in 2005, 2007, 2008 and now 2011.

The Giants have had a successful season

by winning 10 games; seven victories were

achieved with a fourth-quarter, come-from-

behind victory. The team has proven its tenacity

in the playoffs by defeating the defending Super

Bowl champions, the Packers, and the 49ers who

were NFC West champions. The Giants have a

much more reliable offense with Eli Manning

improving as a quarterback. His quarterback

rating dramatically increased from 73.9 to 92.9.

With Manning’s success this season and

down-field receiving threats such as Hakeem

Nicks and Victor Cruz, the Giants will be able to

carry the ball down the field against the Patriots’

horrible defense. Also, the Giants’ defense is

ranked 26th overall, a ranking which may cause

problems for the team because of the Patriots’

strong offense. In recent weeks, the Giants’

defense gave up 328 yards to the 49ers and 388

yards to the Packers. For the Giants to win, their

offense must perform to the best of players’

abilities and try to contain the Patriots’ offense.

Although the Patriots’ experience seems to

give them the advantage, the Giants will over-

come the Patriots with New York’s perseverance

as a team and a strong offense with Eli Manning.

Calling the shots... with Jonathon Heinen

Max and Jacob Hazzard pose for a quick photo. PHOTO BY ALEX ALVARADO

GO GIANTS!

8 February 3, 2012

SportsCubs aim for CIF after disappointing league playBy Cameron Laine

Ranked fifth in Southern California by The Los Angeles Times, the varsi-ty basketball team is ready to take on Harvard-Westlake in Mission League play tonight at 8 p.m. at Cal State Northridge.

Despite disheartening losses in league

games this season, the Cubs remain posi-tive, particularly after their defeat of Orange Lutheran, 92-84, last Saturday. The victory improved their record to 18-3.

Loyola faced a strong opponent in league two weeks ago, matching up with fourth-ranked Alemany and suffering a 95-80 loss. Loyola was restricted by inju-

ries with starting seniors Julian Harrell and Justin Childress sitting out, reduc-ing the offensive firepower of the Cubs.

The Cubs were able to bounce back quickly with a big win last Saturday against eleventh-ranked Orange Lutheran.

“After the loss at Alemany, we talked about re-establishing our rhythm and goals,” said Head Coach Jamal Adams. “I think the guys responded well to the loss with our huge win against Orange Lutheran, and despite not being able to win league anymore, our goal of making a run in the playoffs is still right in front of us.”

Loyola has faced increased pressure after winning the CIF Championship last winter.

“Something the guys have had to get used to is that they are every team’s big game,” said Coach Adams. “At one point, we got too serious trying to protect a myth-ical ranking surrounding us and almost lost sight of enjoying the game, process and each other. I thought Saturday night we were really able to get back to those ideals, and that was one of the reasons we were able to beat Orange Lutheran.”

With a current record of 18-3, Loyola has met expectations and handled the schedule well. Coach Adams said he attributes much of the Cubs’ success this season to the depth of their bench and the skill of their starters.

“We’ve got all kinds of combina-tions that we can play, and I feel like we’re getting closer to figuring out the best ones. The rotations last Saturday were good, and everyone who played really contributed well to that win.”

A key contributor in the win over Orange Lutheran was junior guard Trey Mason who scored 11 points off the bench.

The Cubs will make a push to fin-ish the season strongly and earn a top seed for playoffs. Standing in the way are several high-ranked teams includ-ing unranked Harvard-Westlake, fifteenth-ranked Taft High School and number-one ranked Mater Dei.

“We know we have tough games com-ing up and everyone’s going to be out to get us,” said senior guard Justin Childress. “But if we all come together and play defense, we will come out victorious.”

Attempting to defend their CIF title, the Cubs are hopeful about their ability to perform in the playoffs.

“I feel like we have a good chance in playoffs,” said senior Khaliq Bedart-Ghani. “If we play our game the way we have the ability to, knocking down shots and guarding with tenacity, then it will be hard to keep us from winning.”

Varsity Soccer gears up for CIF playoffsSophomore Parker-Jackson Cartwright drives the ball up the court. Photo By Eric Contrearas

By Xander Swain

The 2012 season has seen Loyola dominating the field of competition, with an overall record of 17-4-5 and a 6-1-3 record in league, not to mention 15 shutouts on the season.

"We've got a lot of talent, and we have a huge potential be a contender for the CIF champion-ship," said senior team captain Henry Herrill.

Defense has been key to the Cubs' success on the field, and Head Coach Chris Walter said he has no plans to change things now. "Our team defense keeps us in every game," he said. "Defense has been a focus of ours from day one, and it will continue through the rest of league and into playoffs."

Tough victories two weeks ago over Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake resulted in high expecta-tions for this past Saturday's match-up at St. Francis. "It will definitely be one of our most important games of the season," said Herrill. "They're always tough on the road, and it's a big-time rivalry."

Loyola led most of last Saturday's game thanks to goals by Herrill and senior Michael Sandoval, but a St. Francis goal in the final minutes ended the game in a 2-2 tie.

The Cubs' 3-0 win against Crespi Carmelite on Monday continued a strong season that has team mem-bers setting their sights on the upcoming CIF playoffs.

“We came out with a lot more confi-dence and hunger, especially after settling for a disappointing 2-2 tie to St. Francis,” said Herrill.

Sandoval, senior Harrison Nichols and sopho-more Timmy Mehl all scored goals. “We domi-nated possession but also remained patient and didn’t try to force things too much,” Herrill said.

To ensure victory in the games ahead, the Cubs' offense will have to raise its game. "Our defense has been solid," Herrill said. "We just need to translate that into the attacking third of the field and be more confident in front of the net."

Mission League always poses unique challenges to Loyola, but, nonetheless, the varsity team has proved to be successful this season. On Monday, Jan. 23, the Cubs faced the Crespi Celts, shutting them out 3-0. Two days later, in their fifth league game this season, the team took on Alemany at home. The Cubs came out on top 1-0, thanks to Coach Walter’s impressive defensive strategy. However, the new Mission league success was short-lived when

Loyola had to travel to Chatsworth to face the Chaminade Eagles. The Cubs suffered a tough loss in a 1-0 shutout.

This loss to Chaminade did not deter the Cubs when they went up against long-time Mission League rival Notre Dame this past Wednesday. After several minutes of well-executed defense by the Cubs, the offense picked up and proceeded to score two straight goals, with no response from Notre Dame. The final score was a 2-0 shutout by Loyola.

“The team came out with intensity and a ready-to-win attitude. We definitely proved our dominance on the field,” said sophomore forward Jesus Fugon.

With a rematch against St. Francis scheduled to end the season, junior midfielder Daniel Plata said

he is confident the Cubs are up to the challenge: "Our soccer team is at a turning point right now. I believe we can make a serious run in the play-offs because we have picked up our level of soccer."

The first round of CIF playoffs will commence in mid-February, and the Cubs are confident that they will be successful. However, they are taking it one game at a time.

“All we have to do is keep up our hard work and inten-sity, and we will obtain victories in the playoffs,” said Fugon.

Today the cubs will travel to to Harvard-Westlake for a 4:30 p.m. game. Loyola will finish league play at home against St. Francis on Wednesday.

Captain Henry Herrill looks to center the ball against Mission League rival Harvard-Westlake. Photo By Michael Alvarez