After opening the Southern California Regional Playoffs with a 5-3 win over Long Beach City College on Friday, the Cerritos College women's water polo team was one win away from advancing to the state championships. The Falcons, seeded #4 for the playoffs, were defeated, 8-3 by #1-ranked Golden West College on Saturday at Fullerton College, which ended their hopes at advancing to De Anza College next weekend for the state tournament. Cerritos followed that game by facing Riverside College for third place and were defeated, 8-6, which ended their season with a 28-5 record.

In their game against the Rustlers, the teams were tied, 3-3 at halftime. But the Falcons were shut out in the second half, while Golden West put the game out of reach with four fourth quarter goals. Early on, Cerritos was down 2-0, but a goal by freshman Angelica Hernandez (El Rancho HS) before the end of the first quarter got the team on the board, with freshman Carla Harvey (Potomac Hills, VA HS) and freshman Jasmine Villalpando (Montebello HS) scoring in the second quarter to tie the game.

Sophomore goalie Sharon Ku (Cerritos HS) wasn't really tested in the first half, but when Golden West started getting better scoring chances, she posted seven saves in the second half, but allowed five goals.

The playoffs started with a tight defensive game against the Viings after Cerritos took a 3-0 first half lead. Harvey opened the scoring, while sophomore Yuridia Vela (Schurr HS) and Hernandez added second quarter goals. After LBCC got to within 3-2 in the third quarter, Villalpando scored with 3:54 remaining, with Vela adding an insurance goal in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons came out in the third place game lacking enthusiasm, as they fell behind 7-0 before scoring against  the Tigers. It wasn't due to a lack of shot attempts, as Cerritos posted 36 shots and got the game to 8-6 with :58 seconds left after a Katherine Gabayeron (Cerritos HS) goal. But it wasn't enough and the Falcons concluded their season with a pair of losses.

Cerritos won their second South Coast Comference title in a row and fifth in the last seven games, while the 28 wins were the fourth time in the last eight years they won as many games.

Photo by Daryl Peterson