The men’s water polo team finished with a 3-1 record at the Golden West Tournament last weekend.

Head coach Joe Abing liked the fact that the tournament was at home. “It was a little bit of a help. We had four games in two days; two games a day. In between games many guys were able to go home and rest, so I think there’s an advantage there; familiarity with your own pool, not a huge advantage, but definitely an advantage.”

In the first game last Friday, the Falcons defeated Riverside College 8-5.

During the second game, which was also on Friday, the team found itself evenly matched with Orange Coast College, but the Pirates came out on top 12-11.

The Falcons took the third game, 13-6, against American River College.

The final game of the tournament was against San Joaquin Delta College, with the Falcons receiving the win with the same previous score.

Despite winning three of the four games played, the games were still tough to win. “Our best opponent this weekend was Orange Coast College. (It) gave us one heck of a game, the game level was intense. We lost by one point that game, so I hope we play (the team) again so we can beat (it),” Utility Carlos Abrego said.

The team has an overall record of 19-8 and a conference record of 3-1, and still has four conference games left to see if it qualifies for playoffs.“Our aspirations are championships. The team that is expected to take it all is Long Beach, hopefully we can surprise everyone and take it all,” Utility Kevin Rubio said.

Abing said, “Our weak point is making sure that we are taking high percentage shots. We’re not going to make every shot, but we need to take smart shots. Usually (the team gets) into trouble when (it) take(s) bad shots and it leads to fast breaks for the other team, but that’s something that we have been working on throughout the year.”

The team’s next game is on Wednesday against El Camino College and is a big conference game.