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The Cerritos College men's water polo
team held off a late comeback by Riverside Community
College on Wednesday in a first round Southern
California Regional Playoff game played at Cypress
College. The Falcons recorded a 9-8 win over the Tigers
to advance to the second round, where they will face
South Coast Conference champion and defending state
champion Long Beach City College on Friday at 9:00 a.m.
at Cypress. Cerritos, seeded #8 in the playoffs, (19-10)
dropped a 15-9 decision to the Vikings earlier in the
year, while LBCC enters the game 25-2 on the year and
are riding a 21-game winning streak.
Leading 9-7 in the fourth quarter,
the Falcons saw Riverside score a goal with a little
under 90 seconds remaining in the game. After two
possession changes, Cerritos head coach
Joe Abing
called a timeout and told his players to take as much
time off the 35-second shot clock before making a move
towards the goal. However, Riverside stole with ball
with 12 seconds left on the shot clock and were off on a
breakaway with a shot at tying the game. But that's when
freshman
Jan-Michael
Pineda (Cerritos
HS), the team's fastest swimmer, made a
break to catch up to the Tiger swimmer. He was able to
reach him and deflected the shot enough for freshman
goalkeeper
Billy Smith
(Cypress HS)
to make a crucial save. The Falcons got the loose ball
and ran out the clock.
"Billy played a tremendous game and
made some amazing saves," said Abing. "He was tested at
times and he really stepped up for us and kept us in
position to win the game."
On offense, freshman sensation
Christian
Flores (Montebello
HS) led the team with four goals, while
sophomore
Omar Ramirez
(Bell Gardens HS)
accounted for two goals and a team-high three steals.
Although freshman
AJ Abrego
(El Rancho HS)
was kept off the scoreboard, he did assist on three
goals, while Smith finished the game with eight saves
and three steals. |
