W. Water Polo: Cerritos finishes third in the South Coast Conference

Cerritos women's water polo team after finishing third at the SCC Tournament
Cerritos women's water polo team after finishing third at the SCC Tournament
Over the weekend, the Cerritos College women's water polo team competed in the South Coast Conference Tournament at El Camino College and came away as the third place finisher. Seeded #3 for the tourney, the Falcons opened with a convincing 19-4 win over Rio Hondo College, but then dropped a 10-7 decision to #2-seeded Mt. San Antonio on Friday. The team then defeated ther host Warriors, 13-5 in the third place game on Saturday and conclude their season with a 11-17 record.
 
Cerritos vs. Rio Hondo: In their first round game against the Roadrunners, the Falcons started off by scoring the first six goals in the game with three of them coming from sophomore Kaya Glynn (Cerritos HS). A pressure defense caused Rio Hondo to turn the ball over on consecutive possessions multiple times, which resulted in transition goals for Cerritos. Sophomore Angelina Romero (Schurr HS) and Miranda Alvarez (Schurr HS) each produced a pair of goals in a five-goal second period and went into halftime leading, 10-2. The Falcons came out of intermission and padded their lead, with Glynn accounting for three more goals, while Alvarez scored twice in the final minute of the period for a 16-3 advantage. By the end of the game, Alvarez and Glynn each had six goals and combined for five assists, while Romero posted eight assists to go with her two goals and five steals. As a team, the Falcons recorded 20 steals, with Alvarez and freshman Melissa Prata (Downey HS) combining for nine. Freshman goalie Alyssa Sorrells (Bell Gardens HS) finished with 10 saves, along with three steals and also stopped a 5-meter shot in the second period.
 
Cerritos vs. Mt. San Antonio: In a back-and-forth game against the Mounties, the teams were deadlocked at 4-4 at intermission, with Romero accounting for three of the team's goals. However, in the third quarter, the offense came to a halt for Cerritos, with Mt. SAC outscoring them, 3-0 to take a 7-4 lead into the final quarter. An early goal increased their lead to 8-4 until the Falcons came storming back. A pair of goals from Alvarez and one from Glynn got Cerritos to within 8-7 with 4:17 remaining. That would be all the scoring for the Falcons, with Mt. SAC adding a pair of insurance goals, as the team only converted 7-of-28 shots in the match.  Romero led the way with three goals and a pair of assists, with Alvarez accounting for two goals and a team-leading four steals. Sorrells turned away eight shots.

Cerritos vs. El Camino: In the third place game, the Falcons busted open a close 2-1 game after the third period, with five goals and a 7-2 lead in the second. Alvarez, Glynn and Romero each scored twice in the first half, while a low-scoring third quarter resulted in just a Romero power play goal. Holding a comfortable 8-2 lead heading into the final eight minutes, the Falcons scored twice in the final minute to close out the scoring. Alvarez led the team with five goals and three assists, with Glynn and Romero each adding three goals and three steals. Prata led the defense with four steals, with Sorrells concluding her season with six saves, to finish with a school record 284 on the year.

Romero became just the fourth player in school history to score over 100 goals (101) and concluded her career with 159 goals, which ranks sixth in school history. Her 50 assists this season are the eighth most in a season. As for Sorrells, she set a new school record with her 290 saves, breaking the old record of 270, which was set by Sharon Ku in 2012. As for Alvarez, she recorded the third most assists in a season (72), with Glynn turning in the seventh most assists in a season at 51.