After winning an impressive six of eight games at the Navy Labor Day Open in Annapolis, Maryland, the Cerritos College men’s water polo team had a pair of tough match-ups ahead of them at the Golden West Tournament in Huntington Beach.

Fully aware of Golden West College’s current standing as reigning State Champions, Southern California Champions, and Orange Empire Conference Champions, the Falcons were prepared for a tough battle.

Golden West College took an early advantage, scoring with only 17 seconds on the clock to tack on an early lead.

Continuing to surge, the hosts put together four goals in only a few minutes, rallying off strong inside turns to take complete control at the beginning of the first quarter.

The Falcons quickly fought back, however, stringing together a plethora of goals to finish the first quarter ahead, 5-4.

The second and third quarters of the match were very competitive, with both schools trading goals back-and-forth as the level of play continued to elevate and become more competitive.

Unfortunately, Golden West took the opportunity to prove why they are reigning State Champions, blowing Cerritos out of the water by taking a 14-8 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Still, the Falcons continued to fight back, but unfortunately came up short, falling to Golden West College 16-14.

Cerritos sophomore goalie Michael Skinas boasted an impressive game, collecting a total of 11 saves throughout the match.

Large contributions came from freshman Miguel Garcia with four goals, and sophomore Christian Flores with three goals making the Cerritos College men’s water polo team’s first regular season game an exciting one, despite the loss.

In their second match of the day, the Falcons were able to keep hold of their well-earned lead despite faltering in the fourth quarter to come out on top over Orange Coast College, 12-9.

Freshman Garcia was at it once again, scoring two goals, a total both sophomore Rafael Romero and sophomore Chad Castro also produced, amounting to half of the Falcons’ goals on the afternoon.

Captain Christian Cordova was impressed with Cerritos College’s efforts, but definitely feels there is a lot of room for improvement.

“We had a pretty strong first half. We went out there with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm to be in the water,” Cordova explained.

“Things got a little bad in the second half – we were not covering our men, they were getting some counters on us, but I think overall we learn from our mistakes and we’re going to just move forward from here.”

Head Coach Joe Abing also feels his team has a lot to work on, but definitely made progress, and played well in the tournament.

“We have things in every part of the game that we need to continue to get better.” Coach Abing continued, “We’ve been working really hard, and our attitudes have been good, but in every part of the game we still have some work to do.”

The Cerritos College men’s water polo team’s next game will take place against Citrus College in Glendora on Sept. 8, where the Falcons are hoping to continue with their winning ways.