Men’s Water Polo Storms Back against Rio Hondo, Falls to Long Beach in Semis

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College recorded a split in its two games at the South Coast Conference Tournament held at the ECC Aquatics Center on Thursday.

No. 5 ECC 18, No. 4 Rio Hondo 17 (First Round)

The Warriors and Roadrunner faced off in the opening round and supplied an incredibly entertaining match for the second time this season.

On Sept. 28, it was the Roadrunners who came out victorious in a close match but the tables were turned on Thursday as the Warriors overcame a five-goal third-period deficit to score the victory and advance in the tournament.

The Warriors trailed 12-8 at halftime and Jose Jaime scored 18 seconds into the third period for the Roadrunners to make it a five-point deficit for ECC. But the Warriors would score six of the next eight goals in the frame including four straight to trail by just one heading into the final period. Bronson Garel and Zackary Johnson each scored three times in the third period alone to spur the comeback.

In the fourth, Aidan Gutierrez pulled the Warriors even with 7:30 left and then Garel scored with 6:24 left in regulation to give ECC its first lead since the 3:09 mark  of the first period.

The Roadrunners would pull even on a power play goal by Aaron Ayala to knot things up at 16 all until Lincoln Brydon scored with 4:52 to pull the Warriors ahead once again. The dagger came with 2:27 left as Brydon found the back of the net again to give the Warriors a two-goal cushion.

The defense would hold firm the rest of the way, keeping the Roadrunners out of the net until Alexander Duenez scored with eight seconds left to keep Rio's slim hopes alive.

The Warriors would succeed in running off the final eight seconds though to secure the win and move on to the semifinals later in the day against No. 1 Long Beach.

No. 1 Long Beach 22, No. 5 ECC 10

In the semifinals, the Warriors were never in it as the top-seeded Vikings scored three straight goals to open the match and took a 5-1 lead after one period.

A nine-goal blitz in the second quarter for the Vikings essentially put the game away as the Warriors trailed 14-2 going into halftime.

The Warriors did manage to score eight goals in the second half as they got five goals from Garel and three from Johnson in the loss. Anthony Taleff and Matheus Trefilio also scored for ECC.

The Warriors will now face off against No. 2 Mt. San Antonio on Saturday afternoon in the third-place match.