Starting off its regular season with a massive 18-1 victory over Los Angeles Trade Tech College, the Cerritos College women’s water polo team hopes to continue its dominance with a visit to Long Beach City College Wednesday.
Coming away with three victories in four games the previous weekend at the Chaffey Tournament in Rancho Cucamonga, the Cerritos College wome’s water polo team are expecting a tough match-up as they’re set to face-off with a South Coast Conference rival.
“We are going to expect a physical Long Beach City College team that hates to lose to Cerritos just as much as we hate to lose to Long Beach City College,” head coach Sergio Macias enthused.
“We expect a tough game, I believe Cerritos (College) is the only team besides LBCC to be South Coast Conference Champions for at least the past 10 years,” Macias continued.
In fact, either Cerritos College or Long Beach City College have claimed the South Coast Conference title since 2001, with the Cerritos College team taking ownership of four of the 11 championships.
Sophomore utility Katherine Gabayeron, who tallied a massive 13 goals at the Chaffey Tournament from four games, has learned to always expect a tough game from Long Beach City College.
Gabayeron said, “Long Beach has always been one of Cerritos College’s rivals. It is always going to be a good game against them.
“We have a pretty good team this year and I’m hoping we’re going to win this one.”
The Long Beach City College Vikings have only been handed one loss so far this season, but have only played five games in comparison to the Cerritos College nine.
Boasting five returners on a 12-man roster, the Long Beach City College team have a lot of young talent, and quick freshman that the Cerritos College team need to prepare for.
Coach Macias feels confident in his roster, however, stating that, “we have a solid group from top to bottom, but most importantly we have tremendous amount of leadership coming from both the returners as well as the incoming freshman.”
The Cerritos College team are set to face the Long Beach City College team at 3 p.m. on the Long Beach City College campus.
