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The
Cerritos
College
women's
water
polo
team
opened
the
Southern
California
Regional
Playoffs
with a
13-6 win
over Mt.
San
Antonio
on
Friday
evening
at
Golden
West
College.
The
Falcons,
seeded
#2 in
the
playoffs
and
ranked
#2 in
the
state,
will now
face
#3-seeded
Long
Beach
City
College
at 12:15
p.m. on
Saturday.
The
Vikings
squeaked
past
Ventura
College,
8-7 in
overtime
in their
first
game of
the
playoffs.
Earlier
in the
year,
the
Falcons,
27-2 and
winners
of 22 in
a row,
posted a
13-7 win
over
LBCC,
while
they
also
defeated
the
Vikings,
8-7 in
the
South
Coast
Conference
Tournament
championship
game
last
Saturday.
With the
win, the
Falcons
are just
one win
away
from
advancing
to the
state
championships
for the
first
time in
the
program's
history.
The top
three
teams
from the
regional
playoffs
advance
to the
state
championships,
which
will be
played
on
November
20-22 at
Merced
College.
It was a
tight
first
quarter
for the
Falcons,
who fell
behind
1-0
after
Erika
Vargas
scored
for the
Mounties.
Cerritos
responded
with
three
straight
goals,
two from
sophomore All-American
Stephanie
Rosero
(Downey
HS),
while
sophomore
Yvonne
Ruvalcaba
(Montebello
HS)
added a
goal
with
1:05
left for
a 3-1
lead. Mt.
SAC
scored
before
the end
of the
first
quarter
to make
it 3-2,
but
could
never
get any
closer
to the
Falcons.
In the
second,
freshman
Adriana
Rodriguez
(El
Rancho
HS)
scored a
pair of
goals,
her
first on
a 6-on-5
advantage,
with
Rosero
picking
up her
third of
the
game.
It was
all
Cerritos
in the
second
half, as
they
scored
six
straight
goals
before
Mt. San
Antonio
could
answer.
Defense
also
played a
big role
in the
win,
with
Ruvalcaba
stopping
a shot
by
Michelle
Lutz
before
it could
get to
the goal
with the
Falcons
leading
6-3 and
the
Mounties
on a
6-on-5
advantage.
Additionally,
freshman
goalkeeper
Miranda
Bakke
(Gahr
HS)
came up
with
nine
saves
and had
three
steals
in an
aggressive
attempt
to hold
off the
Mounties.
"This
was a
game
that I
knew our
players
would be
a little
nervous
about,"
said
head coach
Sergio
Macias.
"We
didn't
play
nearly
as well
as we
could
and made
some
young
mistakes.
Hopefully
we got
them out
of the
way
because
in the
playoffs,
the
other
team is
good
enough
to make
you pay
for
those
mistakes.
I did
think we
played
much
better
in the
second
half and
I was
pleased
with the
play of
(freshman)
Andrea
Garcia
(Gahr
HS),
who
scored
two
goals
for us."
Along
with
Garcia,
the
Falcons
received
two
goals
from
Ruvalcaba,
Rodriguez
and
freshman
Karen
Aguirre
(Downey
HS),
while
Ruvalcaba
led the
team
with
four
steals.
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