What started as a defensive first period for both teams quickly flipped as the Cerritos College Falcons men’s water polo team built on its early lead and pulled away from the Chaffey College Panthers in its conference opener with a 24-7 victory.
“It’s good to come out with a win. I actually feel like we improved from a week ago,” Cerritos head coach Joe Abing said.
“Our defense was much more locked in and it led to a lot of steals and fast breaks. So, we kind of broke out to that lead early and never looked back,” he added.
The Falcons led just 5-2 after the first period as Guillermo De La Mora scored three of his team’s first five goals.
Cerritos saw 10 different players score while De La Mora finished with a match-high five goals and five steals contributing to the team total of 18 steals.
Goalkeeper Aiden Parra did not play in the team’s home opener but played in the first half of the conference opener and recorded five saves on seven total shots.
Goalkeepers Tripp Johnson and Geo Fagiani split action in the final two periods and recorded two saves each on nine shots.
Panthers attacker Parker Black accounted for three of his team’s goals and posted four steals.
Chaffey head coach Kevin Womack said, “Once they started to get a little bit of the momentum, my guys got a little hesitant. We were with them for a little bit there and then let it fall apart.”
“Definitely a lot to learn from the game. There were good moments here and there, but we’ve got to get some more intensity and more consistency if we want to play with a team like that,” Womack added.
Abing noted that all of his players came into the game and sees the improvements moving forward coming from the depth pieces that may not have played as much to gain that experience.
“We need everybody in practice everyday playing at a high level. It’s just going to make us better,” Abing said. “For the team collectively, the guys that got more confidence from today can use that in practices in the next week.”
Parra, on his takeaways from the first conference match said, “You can always get better. Practice makes perfect. We just have to keep working hard.”
The Falcons improved to 8-6 on the season and will ride a three-game win streak into Rio Hondo College for another conference match on Oct. 1
