Competing in their final two games at the Navy Open on Sunday, the Cerritos College men's water polo team split the day before heading back home. The Falcons (4-1), who won four of five games, including an overtime thriller against the Midshipmen, started their second day with a 14-11 win over McKendree (IL) University and then dropped their final game, 11-10 to Gannon (PA) University. The team will now start South Coast Conference play on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. at Rio Hondo College.
Cerritos vs. McKendree (IL) University: The Falcons continued to impress everyone at the tournament, as they came back from their first deficit of the tournament. Trailing 3-2 in the first period, freshman Bryan Santis (La Serna HS) tied the game with :25 seconds left in the period. Cerritos took a 4-3 lead in the second period on an Angel Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) goal, while freshman Kameron Simmons (Evanston Township, IL HS) gave the team a 5-3 advantage with 6:06 remaining in the first half. With the game knotted at 6-6, Rojas scored twice, with freshman Jonathan Butz (Los Altos HS) finding the net early in the fourth period for a 9-6 lead. After McKendree got to within 12-10, goals by Rojas and Anthony Govani secured the win.
Cerritos vs. Gannon (PA) University: Battling back from an 8-4 deficit early in the second half, the Falcons scored twice in a :20 second span on goals by Julio Arroyo (Montebello HS) and Simmons to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:03 left in regulation. Cerritos missed out on a man-advantage situation and then withstood consecutive Gannon man advantages with 2:03 left. However, Thomas Squeglia scored with four seconds left with what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Rojas and Simmons each scored three times for the Falcons in the loss.