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Photo by Juan Velez.
Natalie Peng scored a pair of goals against rival Long Beach City in a 6-4 win. |
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With
both teams
playing
tight
defense
and a
large
crowd on
hand, it
was apparent
that
each
goal
would
loom
large in
a battle
of two
of the
state's
top four
teams. However,
the Cerritos
College
women's
water
polo
team did
what
they
needed
to in
order to
hold off
rival
Long
Beach
City
College
in a
South
Coast
Conference
match at
the
Falcon
Aquatic
Center
on
Wednesday
afternoon
with a
6-4
victory.
The win
also
kicked
off a
day of
celebration,
as the
college
held
their
dedication
and
ribbon
cutting
ceremony
later in
the day.
The
victory
by the
Falcons
was
their
19th in
a row
for the
defending
state
champions,
who
improved
to 25-1
overall
and 6-0
in
conference
action.
The
fourth-ranked
Vikings
fell to
18-3 and
5-1.
Cerritos
will now
host
Pasadena
City
College
next
Wednesday
at 3:00
p.m. in
their
final
regular
season
match.
Throughout
the
game,
both
teams
had
their
chances
to
loosen
the
tightness
of the
defense,
but
failed
on
several
high
percentage
shots.
Cerritos
missed
out on
three
6-on-5
advantages,
while LB
City
also
failed
on their
only
advantage.
Additionally,
the two
teams
combined
to hit
either
the
crossbar
or the
post six
times.
"We came
in
expecting
a good
game and
we got
one,"
said
Falcon
head
coach
Sergio
Macias.
"We knew
they had
a really
good
goalkeeper
(Chelsea
Datt),
so goals
were not
going to
come
easy.
But we
did have
chances
and our
shooters
didn't
have a
very
good
game. If
we made
some of
the
shots we
normally
do, it
could
have
been a
different
game.
But Long
Beach
really
challenged
our
shooters
and we
needed
to make
some
adjustments."
After
the
Vikings
scored
with
4:43 remaining
in the
fourth
quarter
to get
to
within
5-4, the
Falcons tightened
up their
defense
even
more and
received
a couple
of
timely
steals.
Freshman
Raquel Gabayeron
(Cerritos
HS)
stole
the ball
from
Annie Savoji
in front
of the
net,
while a
pair of
missed
scoring
chances
for Long
Beach
City
kept
Cerritos
on top.
But with
1:28
remaining,
sophomore
Yvonne Ruvalcaba
(Montebello
HS)
scored
into the
upper
corner
from
outside
for an
insurance
goal
that
came in
handy.
In fact,
on the
next
Viking
possession, Ruvalcaba
came up
with a
big
steal to
help
secure
the
victory.
The
Falcons
never
trailed
in the
game and
received
a pair
of goals
from
sophomore
Natalie Peng
(Cerritos
HS),
while
sophomore
goalkeeper Miranda Bakke
(Gahr
HS)
made
eight
saves,
several
of which
were at
point-blank
range
for
Cerritos. Kimmy
Morrison
scored
two of
the Long
Beach
goals.
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