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For
the Cerritos College men’s water polo team, their first
two days of action to start the 2007 season were 180
degrees in difference. The Falcons, who advanced to the
state tournament the last two seasons, won their two
opening round games on the first day of the Golden West
Tournament. They started with an 11-5 win over Santa Ana
College, followed by a 10-7 victory over a very good
Riverside College team. On the second day, they suffered
a 12-5 loss to the host Rustlers and then were defeated,
9-7 by South Coast Conference opponent Mt. San Antonio
College.
The Falcons
(2-2) will now open conference action on Wednesday when
they travel to Chaffey College for a 4:15 match.
In the win over
Santa Ana, eight different players scored for Cerritos,
with freshman
Dan Biag
(Cerritos HS) leading the team with three goals,
while sophomore
Austin Cooper
(Downey HS) picked up two goals, Feeding them the
ball was sophomore
Chris
Jimenez (Montebello HS/Golden West College),
who had four assists, while five different players
recorded two steals. Cerritos used a trio of players in
goal, with sophomore
Alan Nevarez
(Downey HS/Long Beach City College) in net long
enough to make five saves.
Cooper tallied
three goals and three steals in the win over Riverside,
while sophomore
AJ Abrego
(El Rancho HS) recorded four assists. Once again,
defense played a large role in the win, with sophomore
Jimmy
Quintana (Montebello HS) also matching
Cooper’s total of three steals, while the team recorded
15 in the game. Nevarez played the entire game in goal
and made five saves, while he also picked up a steal.
The team fell
behind early against Golden West and couldn’t get to
where the momentum of the game might move into the
Falcons favor. Biag and freshman
Ryan Tamula
(Cerritos HS) each scored twice, with Biag also
assisting on three other goals. Sophomore
Billy Smith
(Cypress HS) came on late in the game after the
Rustlers pulled ahead and made six saves. Suffering a
loss to Mt. SAC was a tough blow for Cerritos, who will
have to face them when conference play begins. Nevarez
was pelted with shots in the match and came up with 15
saves, while Quintana led the team with four goals. Biag
finished with two goals, two assists and three steals. |
