In a South Coast Conference matchup with No. 8 Cerritos College Falcons, the El Camino College Warriors men’s water polo team fell short 15-13 at the ECC pool on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
The Falcons got out to a fast start in the first quarter as sophomore Jacob Colon scored his first goal against El Camino freshman goalie Vios Lopez.
Colon led the Falcons with five goals, two assists and three steals, while Tim Robles had three goals, one assist and four steals.
“We performed well as a team; we emphasized on defense a little bit more and just focused on getting stops on one end and making goals on the other end,” Colon said.
Despite having a 15-6 overall record, El Camino is currently on a two-game losing streak.
“The fact that we can even play three out of four quarters, I am happy our guys were able to do that,” coach Noah Rubke said. “I knew we were going to have a chance to be competitive and close, but I also knew Cerritos doesn’t stop attacking, so I knew we were going to have to work hard the whole game.”
The first quarter ended 3-3 while the second quarter resulted in a 7-7 tie.
Freshman Zane Johnson led the Warriors with three goals and two assists, followed by Marc Bugarin with three goals and three assists, while Heitor Trefilio recorded three goals, two assists and four steals.
“I expected it to be a hard game; you know, we both have played some of the same teams, and we’ve both had close games with each of these teams,” Johnson said.
As both teams continued to score back-to-back goals in the fourth quarter, tensions were high. Cerritos led by four goals at the end of the third quarter, 13-9. Diego Campos, a sophomore goalie for the Falcons, blocked ECC sophomore Scott Fujiwara from scoring a goal.
ECC’s last goal was scored by freshman Robbie Josic, bringing the score to 15-13.
“Overall, I think our team is resilient, and I give El Camino a lot of credit; they made it very difficult, and in the end, I felt like we did a good job of finishing the game with strong defense and smart decisions,” Cerritos coach Joe Abing said.
The Warriors’ next game is scheduled to take place at El Camino College on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. versus San Joaquin Delta College.