Facing rival Long Beach City College on Wednesday with first place in the South Coast Conference on the line, the Cerritos College women's water polo team was defeated, 11-5. The Falcons (13-6, 6-1) dropped their first game of the season at home and have just one more conference game before the start of the conference tournament. Prior to that, Cerritos will host Orange Coast College at 9:10 a.m. on Friday on the first day of the Battle at the Beach Tournament.

The Falcons fell behind the Vikings (14-8, 7-0) 6-1 in the second quarter and struggled with the tight defensive pressure. As a result, Cerritos turned the ball over 19 times, with Long Beach City taking advantage of their opportunities.

In the first half, Cerritos had a chance to move closer to getting even with LBCC, but missed on a 5-meter shot and had several good scoring chances turned away. The Falcons were outshot, 29-15 on the day.

Four different players scored for Cerritos, with sophomore Jenny Parra (Schurr HS) leading the team with two goals, while sophomore Mikaela Padilla (Schurr HS) assisted on three of the team's goals. Freshman Dulce Medina (Paramount HS) played the first half in goal and posted four saves, while freshman Ivanna Tostado (Troy HS) came on in the second half and recorded nine saves, with four of them coming at point blank range.

Photos by Daryl Peterson