Posted: Sep 29, 2023
Hosting the one-day Cerritos Mini-Tournament on Friday, the Cerritos College men's water polo team posted a trio of victories. The Falcons (13-6), who have now won seven games in a row, defeated Citrus College (14-10), Ventura College (14-8) and Las Positas College (16-2). The team will now resume South Coast Conference action with a 3:00 p.m. home game against El Camino College.
Cerritos vs, Citrus: Trailing, 5-4 after the first period in an action-filled eight minutes, the Falcons turned a 7-5 second period deficit into a 9-7 advantage by intermission. Cerritos received consecutive goals from Joshua Lamberton (Glendora HS), Silvestre Chavez (Downey HS), Jacob Colon (Schurr HS) and Allan Jimenez (Schurr HS) to close out the first half. They extended their lead to 12-8 heading into the fourth quarter after Colon and Kobe Hurtado (Cerritos HS) scored late in the third quarter. The two teams traded goals in the fourth quarter, with the Falcons coming away with the win.
Hurtado and Lamberton, who each also had three assists, joined Jimenez with three goals each, while Diego Diaz (Montebello HS) led the defense with four steals. Henry De Luna Pena (Baldwin Park HS) played the first half in goal and earned the win, while Diego Campos (Downey HS) played the second half and turned away 10 shots.
Cerritos vs. Ventura: The team got off to a quick 5-1 first period start against the Pirates, with Colon scoring twice. Ventura could never answer the offense by Cerritos, as they scored consecutive goals multiple times to extend their lead. The Falcons matched their first period with a five-goal third period, as Timothy Robles (Schurr HS) recorded a pair of goals. Ventura did score four straight goals in the fourth period, but it wasn't enough against Cerritos, who had opened up a comfortable lead.
Robles finished with four goals with Colon chipping in with three goals. As a team, Cerritos received goals from eight different players, with Ruben Montoya (California HS) assisting on three goals. The defense turned in 14 steals, with Hurtado and Eric Estrada (Cerritos HS) each posting three. De Luna Pena turned away nine shots in his first half of action to earn the win.
Cerritos vs. Las Positas: In their final game of the day, the Falcons poured it on early with 10 goals in the first period and held a 14-0 lead at one point. The Hawks didn't get on the board until the third period, but by then, the outcome had been decided. Twelve different players scored, including De Luna Pena, who played in the field in the fourth period and accounted for the final goal of the game.
Four players scored twice for the Falcons, while Declan Nelson (Corona HS) assisted on three goals. Campos made eight solid saves in the fourth quarter alone to keep Las Positas at bay.
Photos by Daryl Peterson
Photos by Daryl Peterson
