Spending the day at San Diego Mesa College, the Cerritos College men's water polo team posted a pair of wins at the South of the Border Tournament on Friday. The Falcons (11-4) opened with a 12-10 overtime win over the host Olympians and followed that with an 18-7 win over Citrus College. The team will resume South Coast Conference play on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. when they host Rio Hondo College.
Cerritos vs. San Diego Mesa: On two separate occasions, the Falcons held two-goal leads only to see the Olympians tie the score. They were tied six different times in the game, with San Diego Mesa sending the game into overtime on a goal with :12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. However, Cerritos was able to keep the Olympians off the scoreboard in extra time, while they received goals from freshman Seamus MacDonald (Long Beach Millikan HS) with 2:33 remaining, with sophomore Kevin Elizarraraz (Buena Park HS) adding an insurance goal on a power play with :34 seconds left. Elizarraraz and MacDonald each scored three times, while MacDonald's presence in front of the goal produced six power plays for the Falcons. The tandem of freshmen Brian Luque-Gutierrez and Mario Vanzillota each assisted on three goals, with sophomore goalie Zachary Estrada (La Serna HS) finishing with three steals to go along with his 15 big saves.
Cerritos vs. Citrus: The Falcons opened up a comfortable 9-3 lead at intermission and after the Owls scored three in a row to get to 11-6, Cerritos responded with seven consecutive goals. Freshman Joey Hurtado (Cerritos HS) scored a season-high four goals, while freshman Luke Wolfe (Corona HS) also turned in a season-high three goals in the win. Elizarraraz also had three goals, with nine players getting on the scoreboard. Vanzillota and freshman Juan Anguiano (Kennedy HS) both assisted in three goals, with freshman goalie Nate Pineda (La Mirada HS) earning his second win of the season after making nine saves in three periods of action.