When two very familiar programs face each other on a regular basis, usually with a conference championship on the line, the play tends to be a little extra physical. That could not have been more evident when the Cerritos College men's water polo team competed at rival Long Beach City College in a South Coast Conference match on Wednesday. The two teams combined for 23 exclusions, while the Vikings were able to come away with a 14-13 shootout win in their first encounter of the season. The loss dropped the Falcons to 10-4 overall and 1-1 in SCC play and will now compete in the San Diego Mesa Tournament over the weekend.
The biggest exclusion of the day came when sophomore Christian Flores (Montebello HS) was ejected for the rest of the game for intentionally ripping the cap off an LBCC player. Flores must sit out the first game of the San Diego Mesa Tournament - and will be suspended for the rest of the year if he draws another ejection. Without the overall contributions Flores offers the team, they looked to freshman Miguel Garcia (Montebello HS), who scored a team-high five goals.
Cerritos held early leads of 3-1 and 6-3, and a Rafael Romero (Montebello HS) goal in the third put the Falcons ahead 7-5. Long Beach City fought back for leads of 10-9 and 11-10 in the fourth, but the Falcons responded each time with the tying goal, first from sophomore Chad Castro (Whittier HS) and then from freshman TJ Tigerina (Bell Gardens HS) with 1:40 left in regulation.
The teams traded a goal in the first OT, and were tied again at 13 with less than a minute to play after Castro scored for Cerritos. In the first overtime period, LBCC got a goal from Ian Arnold while Tigerina scored again for the Falcons to set the score at 12-12 heading into the second and final overtime. Dylan Thompson scored at the 2:39 mark for LBCC before Castro tied up the contest with :52 seconds left. On the Vikings next trip down the pool, Dor Apffel scored the game-winner with :36 seconds left and LBCC denied one last Cerritos push for the win.
Falcon goalkeeper Michael Skinas (La Serna HS) was a stalwart in goal, as he turned away 19 shots and posted three steals. Offensively, Romero added three goals, while freshman Albert Kim (Cerritos HS) chipped in with two.
