Golden West and West Valley make their way to top of men's water polo regionals
State Championship Bracket
Regional Brackets: NorCal l SoCal
LAS POSITAS - For the sixth time in seven years, West Valley is the NorCal men’s water polo champion. The top-seeded Vikings need everything in their arsenal to dispatch the 2nd-seeded Beavers 10-6 in the title tilt at frigid Las Positas College Saturday night. West Valley and American River, along with ARC’s Big 8 Conference colleagues Diablo Valley and Sierra, will represent the north at this weekend’s 3C2A Men’s Championships at Long Beach City College.
The Vikings (28-5) may have set the unofficial championship record for bar-outs as they consistently hit metal instead of twine throughout. But, in the end, the Vikings outscored the Beavers (22-9) in every quarter but a 2-2 third.
ARC’s Mateo Ruano put the Beavers on the board first with a power-play goal at 3:44, but Taine Pickering countered with a 6-on-5 goal 15 seconds later. Berke Yalcin blasted in an even-strength tally a minute later and the opening quarter ended 2-1, WVC.
Ethan MacLeod’s two goals bookended Ruano’s second goal of the game to give WVC a 4-2 advantage at 4:59 of the second. Cayden Pitzer converted a five-meter to help ARC close to within 4-3 at 2:44, but unanswered goals from Phil Portisch and Yalcin gave the Vikings a 6-3 lead at the break. The 2-2 third quarter made it 8-5, Vikings, heading to the final eight minutes. Caden Rutan lasered in a power-play shot and it was 8-6 with 4:05 to play. Portisch scored at 3:44 and then MacLeod canned a 6-on-5 with 2:17 left to give WVC a 10-6 lead they would not surrender.
Yalcin led WVC with three goals, followed by two each from MacLeod, Pickering and Portisch. Ruano paced the Beavers with a game-high four tallies, while Jack McGoldrick, Pitzer and Rutan finished with one goal each. Viking keeper Will McKeon, who was named the tourney MVP, stopped six ARC shots. ARC coach Zac Koerner picked up Coach of the Tournament honors.
A heated interconference 3rd-place game between No. 3 Sierra and No. 4 Diablo Valley ended, appropriately, with a double-overtime 16-14 win for the Wolverines. Both teams were cold, mirroring the plunging Livermore temperatures, to start, with quarter number one ending 1-1. Things heated up in the pool, if not on the deck, in the second, with the Vikings (15-18) outscoring the Wolverines (12-14) 6-5 to take a 7-6 lead into the break.
Sierra’s Chris McCarron caught fire in a 4-4 third, finding the back of the cage three times. Cameron Reed added a goal for Sierra and DVC got single scores Jackson Barnacal, Thomas Colpo, Ashton Culpepper and Keegan D’Arcy and the Vikings clung to an 11-10 advantage heading into the last eight minutes, or, as it turned out, the last 14 minutes.
Barnacal and Colpo each scored once in the fourth, but Sierra evened up at 13-13 on two more goals from McCarron and one from Rhett Wildenradt. McCarron stayed hot in the first OT with two goals for a 15-13 Wolverine lead. Culpepper scored for DVC in the second OT to bring the Vikings within a goal, but Sean Ward put it away with a late Wolverine goal and the 16-14 final.
(Matt Folsom. CCCWPCA)
Golden West holds off Orange Coast for SoCal men’s crown
COSTA MESA - Seven-time defending state champion Golden West did what it needed to do to win another SoCal regional title, edging Orange Coast 12-10 Saturday at Orange Coast. The Rustlers will be joined by Long Beach City, OCC and LA Valley at this weekend’s 3C2A Men’s State Championships at Long Beach City.
The one-sided rivalry between the Golden West and Orange Coast is inching its way closer, but for now, the Rustlers (34-5) are still the team to beat after a hard-fought 12-10 win over the Pirates (21-12) in the final. The Pirates were within just one goal at 9-8 after three quarters, but, thanks to three fourth-quarter Rustler goals, that would be as close as they would get. Michael Rodgers had three goals to pace GWC’s attack, followed by two each from Tomas De Luca and Cody Chastain. OCC was led by three scores apiece by Sawyer McCormick and Cade Zeilinger. Rustler keeper Pablo Souza recorded four saves, while OCC’s Roman Christenot had five and was Coast’s top player on Saturday.
In the 3rd-place game, Long Beach City and LA Valley traded blows in a combined 11-goal first quarter, but things settled down a bit, and, in the end, the Vikings (22-8) held the Monarchs (17-11) to five goals the rest of the way to earn the 14-11 win. Sandro Pueyo found the back of the net four times for the Vikings, while Colley Ochoa and Cooper Haddad each had three. Both goalies – LBCC’s Diogo Checchinato and LAVC’s Alec Chalkdzhyan – finished with eight saves. Ryan Nevsky and Christian Perez had three goals apiece for the Monarchs.
Semifinals:
Orange Coast 11, Long Beach 9 (OT) – This one needed some extra time, but in the end, the host Pirates earned a spot in the title game with a double-overtime win over the Vikings. With Coast up 8-7 with fewer than 30 seconds remaining, LBCC’s Thomaz Figueiredo picked a perfect time for his lone goal, tying things up at 8-8. Viking keeper Diogo Checchinato’s save at the buzzer forced OT. OCC grabbed a 10-9 lead after the first three-minute overtime, and OCC’s Jason Honey buried a shot into the back of the net with 43 seconds remaining to give the Pirates some insurance. Roman Christenot kept Coast in the game early with several stellar stops, including one on a five-meter penalty shot late in the fourth. He finished with 14 saves, while Checchinato had 13 for LBCC. Cade Zeilinger led OCC with four goals, while Sandro Pueyo led LBCC with three.
Golden West 15, L.A. Valley 6 – Golden West doubled-up on the Monarchs in the opening two quarters, grabbing an 8-4 lead at the break and pulling away with a 4-0 fourth quarter to earn the victory. Ethan Carrington paced GWC’s offense with six goals and Pablo Souza had 12 saves. Chase Martsolf and Christian Perez led LAVC with two goals each, while Sasha Mnatsakanyan had six saves.
(Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast College, and Matt Folsom, CCCWPCA)