Playing twice in their one-day tournament on Friday, the Cerritos College men's water polo team won one of their two games. The Falcons (9-3, 3-0) posted a 15-7 South Coast Conference win over Chaffey College in their first meeting and then dropped a hard-fought 13-11 decision against Orange Coast College. The team will play a pair of games in the Riverside City Tournament this weekend, with the games to be played at Orange Coast College. They will get a chance at a rematch against the Pirates in their first game at the tournament.
In typical Cerritos fashion, eight different goal scorers led the way for the team, as they opened the match with six first quarter goals and followed that with five more in the second quarter to take a comfortable lead. The duo of sophomores Ben Neppl (Long Beach Millikan HS/Long Beach City College) and Eduardo Rodriguez (Buena Park HS) each scored three goals to lead the Falcons. Posting a pair of goals each were freshmen Dominic Hernandez (Schurr HS), Emiliano Cuaro (La Habra HS) and Richard Montanez (Baldwin Park HS), while Rodriguez also assisted on five goals. Freshman goalkeeper Owen Fahringer (Long Beach Millikan HS) posted 15 saves to earn the win.
Through the first half of their game against the Pirates, the teams were tied six times, with the Falcons hanging on until late they gave up consecutive goals and went into halftime trailing, 7-6. That deficit would never be wiped out, as the Pirates opened the second half with a pair of goals for a 9-6 advantage. Goals by sophomore Mario Vanzillotta (Colegio Palas, Brazil HS), Neppl and Rodriguez pulled the team into a 9-9 tie, but Orange Coast would score the last goal of the third quarter and the first goal of the fourth quarter to build an 11-9 advantage. Two more late goals secured the win for the Pirates, leaving the Falcons looking to bounce back. Hernandez led the team with four goals, while Neppl and sophomore Seamus MacDonald (Long Beach Millikan HS) each scored three times. Vanzillotta assisted on three goals, with Fahringer recording 12 saves in the match.