Trailing for most of the game, the Cerritos College men's water polo team scored a pair of goals in the last minute of the game to come away with an 11-10 win over Diablo Valley College in their first game at the Golden West Tournament on Friday. The win over the Vikings was their first against a community college this season, with their only other loss coming at the hands of Brown University. The Falcons (21-7), who followed with a 17-10 win over Riverside College later in the day, trailed 7-4 at halftime and then 10-9 with a minute left in the game. Cerritos won their pool and will now play Golden West College at 12:25 p.m. on Saturday and then again at 3:40 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

With Viking players surrounding him, freshman Miguel Garcia (Montebello HS) made a spectacular pass to sophomore Chad Castro (Whittier HS). A natural right-hander, Castro caught the ball with his left hand and calmly scored into an empty net. After a Cerritos steal, Garcia, the team's leading scorer, powered a shot cross-cage with :12 seconds left for the team's first lead of the game.

"We knew (after going ahead) they would be looking to get the ball to one particular player, so were going to defend him aggressively," said head coach Joe Abing. "Even if we got an exclusion and had to play a man down, we were okay with that." The Falcons did get that exclusion with a little over a second left after playing aggressive defense and Diablo Valley was unable to get off a shot.

Castro led the Cerritos with three goals, while Garcia, sophomore Christian Flores (Montebello HS) and freshman Albert Kim (Cerritos HS) each added a pair of goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Michael Skinas (La Serna HS) turned away 14 shots and posted three steals in the big win for the Falcons, who are ranked #7 in the state.

That win was followed by a 17-10 victory over the #6-ranked Tigers, with Garcia finding the back of the net five times. He now has 97 goals on the year and is closing in on the school record of 103, which was set by Danny Garcia in 2001, while Flores scored 102 goals in his freshman season in 2006.

Additionally, freshman TJ Tigerina (Bell Gardens HS) contributed three goals, with Flores, Kim and freshman Kevin Cordova (Montebello HS) all scoring twice. Freshman Christian Cordova (Montebello HS) led the defense with four steals, with Castro assisting on three goals. Skinas came up with another big game, as he made 11 blocks and had four steals.

Photo by Daryl Peterson