The Cerritos College men's water polo team closed out their regular season on Wednesday with a 20-4 South Coast Conference victory over visiting El Camino College. The Falcons (21-8, 4-1) will go into the conference tournament next week as the #2-seeded team, which will take place at Mt. San Antonio College.

In their win over the Warriors, the team scored the first nine goals and never looked back. Sophomore Michael Hanna (Cerritos HS) accounted for four of the Falcons six first quarter goals, with seven different players getting on the scoreboard.

Hanna finished the game with six goals, as did freshman Felix Gonzalez (Montebello HS), while sophomore Max Gomez (La Serna HS) added three goals. Defensively, the Falcons posted 27 steals, with the duo of sophomores David Lumbreras (Downey HS) and Andrew Javier (Cerritos HS) with four each.

A trio of players saw time in goal, with freshman Grant Jimenez (Cerritos HS) playing the first half and posted five saves and two steals, with sophomore Pedro Rodriguez (Downey HS) recording two third quarter saves. Sophomore Joseph Owens (Kennedy HS) made five saves in the fourth quarter.

Other solid defensive performances came from Gonzalez, freshman Justin Ramos (St. Paul HS) and sophomore Alberto Gonzalez (Montebello HS/Mt. San Antonio College) who all had three steals in the win. Daniel Burdiak scored twice for El Camino, while goalie Hugo Palma made four saves.

Photos by Daryl Peterson