It was supposed to be a battle of first place in the South Coast Conference when the Cerritos College and Long Beach City College men's water polo teams met up at the Falcon Aquatic Center on Wednesday. But by the time the Falcons scored their first goal of the game, there was just one second left in the first half and the Vikings (7-5, 2-0) had already found the back of the net nine times. The end result was a 12-5 loss that snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Falcons (13-6, 3-1). On Saturday, Cerritos will play a pair of games at the Los Angeles Valley Tournament, as they face Santa Ana College (9:00 a.m.) and the host Monarchs (11:30 a.m.).

LBCC took a 6-0 lead after the first period, with Andrew Reynolds accounting for three of his game-high four goals. Cerritos finally got on the board on a steal and goal by sophomore Alberto Gonzalez (Montebello HS/Mt. San Antonio College) with just one second left in the half.

Throughout the game, the Vikings were there to pick off passing attempts, while goalkeeper Matej Matijevic recorded 14 saves to stave off the Falcons. By contrast, Cerritos rotated in all three of their goalkeepers, with freshman Grant Jimenez (Cerritos HS) posting nine saves during his time in the net in the first half.

Gonzalez and sophomore Max Gomez (La Serna HS) each scored a pair of goals for the Falcons, while freshman Kevin Rubio (La Serna HS) came on to post four steals, with the trio of Jesus Munoz (Montebello HS/Notre Dame (OH) College), Felix Gonzalez (Montebello HS) and Carlos Abrego (Bell Gardens HS) all recording two steals.

Photos by Daryl Peterson