Competing in the Merced Tournament over the weekend, the Cerritos College men's water polo team picked up one win in four games. The Falcons (1-3) dropped close games to American River College (11-8), Diablo Valley College (15-12) and Modesto College (12-9) before salvaging the weekend with a 14-9 victory over Cabrillo College. The team will now play four games at the Cypress Tournament next weekend.

One of the aspects of their game that Cerritos will look to improve is their defense in the final 30 seconds of a period. In the three losses, six goals were scored by their opponents in the final 30 seconds of a period. By contrast, the Falcons scored one in those three games.

In the victory over Cabrillo, freshman Julian Almanza (St. John Bosco HS) got the offense started with the first two goals of the game. He finished with a season-high six goals in the game and even opened the second half with a goal, which broke a 5-5 halftime tie. Sophomore Isaiah Wright (Whittier HS) gave the Falcons an 8-6 lead with consecutive goals in the third period, with freshman Marco Uribe (St. John Bosco HS) and Almanza scoring the first two goals in the fourth period, followed by sophomore Guillermo De La Mora (La Serna HS), who added two more for a comfortable 13-7 advantage.

Almanza opened the season with a team-leading three goals, while sophomore goalkeeper Aiden Parra (California HS) turned away eight shots and also recorded four steals against American River. Sophomore Christian Acosta (Schurr HS) found the back of the net five times against Diablo Valley, with Parra making 13 saves. Almanza and Acosta accounted for seven of the team's goals against Modesto, with Parra making 11 saves.