M. Water Polo: Cerritos splits final two games at the Navy Open

The Falcon men's water polo team split their final two games at the Navy Open
The Falcon men's water polo team split their final two games at the Navy Open

Competing in their final two games at the Navy Open on Sunday, the Cerritos College men's water polo team split the day before heading back home. The Falcons (4-1), who won four of five games, including an overtime thriller against the Midshipmen, started their second day with a 14-11 win over McKendree (IL) University and then dropped their final game, 11-10 to Gannon (PA) University. The team will now start South Coast Conference play on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. at Rio Hondo College.

Cerritos vs. McKendree (IL) University: The Falcons continued to impress everyone at the tournament, as they came back from their first deficit of the tournament. Trailing 3-2 in the first period, freshman Bryan Santis (La Serna HS) tied the game with :25 seconds left in the period. Cerritos took a 4-3 lead in the second period on an Angel Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) goal, while freshman Kameron Simmons (Evanston Township, IL HS) gave the team a 5-3 advantage with 6:06 remaining in the first half. With the game knotted at 6-6, Rojas scored twice, with freshman Jonathan Butz (Los Altos HS) finding the net early in the fourth period for a 9-6 lead. After McKendree got to within 12-10, goals by Rojas and Anthony Govani secured the win.

Cerritos vs. Gannon (PA) University: Battling back from an 8-4 deficit early in the second half, the Falcons scored twice in a :20 second span on goals by Julio Arroyo (Montebello HS) and Simmons to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:03 left in regulation. Cerritos missed out on a man-advantage situation and then withstood consecutive Gannon man advantages with 2:03 left. However, Thomas Squeglia scored with four seconds left with what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Rojas and Simmons each scored three times for the Falcons in the loss.