M. Water Polo: Team splits four games at Riverside Tournament

File Photo: The Falcons split their four games at the Riverside City Tournament
File Photo: The Falcons split their four games at the Riverside City Tournament
Playing in their sixth tournament of the season, the Cerritos College men's water polo team picked up a pair of wins in four games at the Riverside City Tournament over the weekend. On Friday, the Falcons opened with a 22-10 win over Citrus College and then dropped a 10-8 decision against Orange Coast College. The finished off their weekend with a 13-8 decision over Grossmont College and finished with a tough 12-11 loss at the hands of the host Tigers. Cerritos (16-6) will resume South Coast Conference play on Wednesday when they travel to Long Beach City College for a 4:30 p.m. match on Wednesday.
 
Cerritos vs. Citrus: Goals were at a premium against the Owls, as the Falcons scored six times in each quarter of the first half and five more times in each quarter of the second half.  They opened the game by scoring the first four goals and never looked back. Eleven different players scored at least one goal for Cerritos, with sophomore Dominic Hernandez (Schurr HS) leading the way with four goals, while the trio of Emiliano Cuara (La Habra HS), Allan Jimenez (Schurr HS) and Sebastian Rico (Montebello HS) each accounted for three goals. Posting three helpers was Ruben Montoya (La Serna HS), while six other players, including goalkeeper Rene Borja (Schurr HS), dished out a pair of assists.
 
Cerritos vs. Orange Coast: The team turning out to be the biggest nemesis this season for the Falcons is the Pirates, who recorded their third win of the season in as many meetings. One of the keys for Orange Coast in the game was their ability to win the opening sprint and convert that into a goal. They did that twice, while the Falcons were only able to score consecutive goals once. Down 3-1 early in the second quarter, Axel Pedroza (California HS) got on the board for the Falcons, while the teams traded goals the remainder of the period and went into halftime down, 5-4. The goal trading continued into the third quarter until Orange Coast scored consecutive goals to take an 8-5 advantage with 5:21 left in the quarter. Borja (13 saves) and the defense turned the Pirates away the rest of the quarter, with Hernandez and Silvestre Chavez (Downey HS) each scoring to draw to within 8-7 heading into the fourth quarter. But the Falcons would be kept off the scoreboard until 2:09 remaining when Rico scored to make it a 10-8 game, which is where it finished. Chavez led the team with three goals.
Cerritos vs. Grossmont: Against the Griffins, the Falcons came out quickly and took an 8-2 lead at halftime. They did that on the strength of the defense, while Hernandez accounted for four of the team's goals. It was a 10-2 game early in the third quarter before Grossmont scored five straight goals to close out the quarter. Chavez made it an 11-7 game with his goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter, with Jimenez closing out the scoring with a pair of goals on consecutive possessions. Along with the four goals from Hernandez, the Falcons received two goals from Jimenez, Cuara and Kobe Hurtado (Cerritos HS), while Hernandez also assisted on three goals. 

Cerritos vs. Riverside City: Facing a Tigers team that was suffering from a 12-game losing streak, the Falcons were locked in a tight battle where the game was tied seven different times. Riverside broke an 8-8 tie with three straight goals to hold an 11-8 advantage with 7:00 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Hernandez scored twice and Jimenez added a goal to tie the game at 11-11 with 3:06 remaining. Neither team could take the lead after several missed scoring attempts. With the clock running out, the Falcons turned the ball over and the Tigers were able to score the game-winning goal with :07 left. Hernandez, who also assisted on five goals, had three goals to lead the way with three other players scoring twice.