Cerritos wins three of four matchups at Citrus Tournament; Medina makes 34 saves in goal

CCCAA Women's Water Polo: Scoreboard l Standings

GLENDORA, Calif. - Over the weekend, the Cerritos College women's water polo team won three of four games at the Citrus Tournament. The Falcons (11-6) opened with a 15-0 win over East Los Angeles College that also served as a South Coast Conference match, and followed that with a 9-8, last-second win over Los Angeles Valley College. On Saturday, the day opened with a 15-13 loss to American River College and capped off with a 13-11 overtime win over the host Owls. Next up for Cerritos is a South Coast Conference match on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. against Mt. San Antonio College.

Cerritos vs. East Los Angeles: Sophomore goalkeeper Dulce Medina (Paramount HS) recorded her second shutout of the season, as the Falcons scored nine goals in the first period to take a commanding lead. Of the 11 field players that saw action, 10 of them scored at least once, with Medina making nine saves. Freshman Candice Garcia (Rosary HS) scored a team-high three goals, with the trio of Hannah Thompson (Lakewood HS), Kate De La Mora (Schurr HS) and Karol Martinez (Warren HS) each posting a pair of goals. Martinez also had three assists and a pair of steals, with freshman Lizbeth Ramirez (Sunny Hills HS) leading the way with four thefts in the win.

Cerritos vs. Los Angeles Valley: With the game tied at 8-8 and time running out, Falcon head coach Sergio Macias called a timeout to set up one last play. It worked well, as sophomore Lizbeth Gomez(Schurr HS) sent a pass to De La Mora, who scored her fifth goal of the game at the buzzer, which avoided overtime and earned the Falcons a win. The score was tied seven different times with neither team able to get a multi-goal lead at any point. It was the second period during the match that Cerritos scored in the final seconds of the game, as Martinez scored with one second left on the clock in the third period. Freshman Mayra Olivas (Montebello HS) posted seven steals to go with her two assists, with Medina turning away eight shots.

Cerritos vs. American River: Playing another close game, the Falcons and Beavers were deadlocked at 8-8 in the third period until American River scored four of the final five goals in the period. At one point, they scored six straight goals after Cerritos took an 8-6 lead. De La Mora scored three times in a row to draw the Falcons to within 12-11 in the fourth period, but American River responded with a pair of goals. De La Mora and Olivas both scored before the end of the game, but it wasn't enough to come back. De La Mora accounted for eight of the team's goals, with Gomez assisting on four goals, while she teamed with Olivas to post nine steals. Medina finished with 10 saves.

Cerritos vs. Citrus: Able to avoid overtime the day before against Los Angeles Valley, the Falcons were forced to play two overtime periods against the Owls in their final game of the tournament. They spotted Citrus a 6-1 lead before starting their comeback and limited their opponents to just two second half goals. De La Mora scored four consecutive goals for the Falcons, while Gomez checked in with two of her own, as Cerritos took a 10-9 lead with 1:03 left in regulation. The Owls did tie the game with :53 seconds left and neither team was able to score before the end of regulation. Gomez and freshman Carolina Medrano (Schurr HS) scored the first two goals of the first overtime period, while Medrano added an insurance goal with one second left in the second OT period. De La Mora (five), Medrano (four) and Gomez (four) accounted for all of the team's goals, while Gomez also added eight steals.

(John Van Gaston, Cerritos College Athletics)