Seeded #3 for the South Coast Conference Tournament, the Cerritos College men's water polo team opened with a 13-8 win over #6-seeded Chaffey College. In the semifinals against #2-seeded Mt. San Antonio College, the Falcons recorded a 12-11 win. That advanced the team to the championship game, where they came up short, 13-11 against rival Long Beach City College. The tournament was held at El Camino College. Cerritos will now wait to see where they are seeded for the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

 

Cerritos vs. Chaffey: Opening the game by scoring the first seven goals, the Falcons were able to play everyone in the match. Freshman Allan Jimenez (Schurr HS) accounted for three of the first seven goals scored, with eight players going on to score at least once against the Panthers. Other than the four goals scored by Jimenez, Sebastian Rico (Montebello HS) and Richard Montanez (Baldwin Park HS) each produced a pair of goals in the win. Montanez was joined by sophomore Dominic Hernandez (Schurr HS) with two assists each, with sophomore goalie Rene Borja (Schurr HS) leading the defensive performance with three steals to go along with nine saves.

 

Cerritos vs. Mt. San Antonio: With their 12-11 win over the Mounties, the Falcons are now 33-10 overall and 14-3 in conference tournament games under head coach Joe Abing against Mt. SAC. After opening a 5-1 lead in the first quarter, Cerritos saw the Mounties score twice in the final minute to pull to within 5-3. By halftime, it was a 7-7 tie with Mt. San Antonio taking their first lead early in the third period, 8-7. Goals by Jimenez and Axel Pedroza (California HS) drew the teams into a 9-9 deadlock heading into the final quarter. Hernandez and Jimenez each scored to make it 11-9 before Mt. SAC answered with two goals of their own to tie the game once again. With 1:26 remaining, freshman Kobe Hurtado (Cerritos HS) scored what would be the game-winning goal, with Borja coming up with both a steal and save to help preserve the win. Hurtado and Jimenez each scored three times, while Borja led the defense with five steals to go along with his 12 saves.

Cerritos vs. Long Beach City: Looking for a win over the Vikings for the tournament championship, the Falcons opened up quickly and took a 4-3 lead after the first period and led, 6-5 at halftime. Hurtado and sophomore Abimael Anorve (Mira Costa HS) each scored twice in the first half, while Hernandez was a force and gave Cerritos man advantage after another. Along with his three goals and four assists, Hernandez drew a school record 12 exclusions against Long Beach City. A third quarter offensive push by the Vikings allowed them to open a 10-8 lead heading into the fourth quarter. After Hernandez made it a 10-9 game, LBCC scored the next two goals and the Falcons could only trade goals the remainder of the match. Hurtado had three goals, while Borja posted three steals in goal to go along with his nine saves.