M. Water Polo: Cerritos beaten twice in tournament

File Photo: Matthew Skinas and the Falcons were defeated twice on Saturday
File Photo: Matthew Skinas and the Falcons were defeated twice on Saturday

This season, the Cerritos College men's water polo team has posted a 21-8 record, with all of those losses coming at the hands of four just teams. The Falcons dropped a pair of games against the Naval Academy in the first week of the season and then suffered a sudden death overtime loss to Citrus College. Other than that, all of their setbacks have come against powerhouses Golden West College and Long Beach City. Cerritos suffered two close losses on the second day of the Golden West Tournament, losing, 12-8 to the Rustlers and then 9-6 to the Vikings.

The regular season is over for the Falcons and will now host the South Coast Conference Tournament, which will take place November 6-7.

Cerritos vs. Golden West: For the second time this year, the team was defeated by the Rustlers. The Falcons trailed, 10-5 at the end of the third quarter, and outscored GWC, 3-2 in the fourth. Sophomore Matthew Skinas (La Serna HS) led the way with three goals, while the tandem of sophomore Marlon Moreno (Colegio Virgen del Rosario, Venezuela) and freshman Angel Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) each scored twice. Rojas took 12 shots in the match, while Moreno drew five ejections. Sophomore goalie Alfredo De La Mora (Bell Gardens HS) turned away 11 shots and posted a pair of steals, as did freshmen Jeffrey Park (Cerritos HS) and Israel Rodriguez (Whittier HS).

Cerritos vs. Long Beach City: It was the third loss of the season against LB City, all within the last two weeks. In a hotly contested match, the teams were tied at 4-4 at halftime. But the Falcons were kept off the scoreboard in the third period, while the Vikings scored three times. They traded goals in the fourth period to finish up the game. Rojas scored twice, with four other players adding one goal. Skinas recorded four steals, with De La Mora turning away eight shots.