By John M. Sherrard
(Walnut, CA) With a small but mighty roster, the Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo team gave the home crowd some exciting games this weekend in the 44th Annual Tournament at the Marie T. Mills Aquatics Center Friday and Saturday, winning three of four games.
With the tourney taking place at two sites, Citrus and Mt. SAC, 14 teams from all over Southern California, including Sierra College from Rocklin and Cuesta College from the San Luis Obispo area, played 27 games.
The Mounties were led by sophomore driver Roman Aceres with 15 goals in the four games, followed by sophomore utility Nick Perez with eight and freshman utility Matt Rauch with seven.
"We've come together as a group, even though we're a small group," Aceres said. "We all have the same mentality and that's what keeps us going."
Mt. SAC 12, Ventura 11
The Mounties, for the second consecutive game against Ventura, got off to a slow start, but rebounded and came away with the tournament-opening win on Friday morning.
Mt. SAC trailed, 3-1, after one period and, 5-3, at the half, but behind three goals from freshman utility Christian Martinez and a pair from Aceres, the Mounties drew even at 9-9 after three periods.
After freshman utility Thomas Carney tied the game at 11-11 with 4:09 left in the fourth period, Aceres took a long pass from freshman goalie Jake Simmons (17 saves) and scored to lead, 12-11,with just over a minute left.
Simmons made a big save with his outstretched arms with only :17 left to preserve the win.
Sierra College 16, Mt. SAC 9
With only two and a half minutes gone in the first period, the Mounties trailed, 4-0, and 10-4 at the half. Mt. SAC never recovered and Sierra, with a six-goal second half pulled away for the win.
Perez led the Mounties with four goals, an assist and three steals. Simmons had four steals and 10 saves.
Mt. SAC 10, Palomar 9
The Mounties trailed early, 3-1, but reversed that in the second period, 3-1, for the 4-4 tie at the half.
In the back and forth game, the Mounties had the edge, 8-7, going into the final period as Perez took a pass from Aceres (4 goals, 3 assists, 1 steal) with 3.7 seconds left in the third.
Palomar scored two consecutive goals to take a brief, 9-8, lead but sophomore utility Adrian Hernandez took a nice cross pass from Perez (3 goals, 2 assists, 3 steals) to tie the game, 9-9, with 2:50 remaining.
Freshman driver Aiden O'Neil put the game, 10-9, away after a pass from Aceres with just :52 remaining in the game.
Simmons added to his state-leading save total (143) with 20 in the game.
Mt. SAC 11, Santa Monica 8
After a close first period Mt. SAC led, 3-2, but the Mounties doubled up on Santa Monica, 6-3, at the half, behind a pair of goals from Hernandez and Rauch in the half.
Aceres, who had a game-high five goals, scored all three Mountie goals in the third and Santa Monica put in only two and Mt. SAC led, 9-5.
After Santa Monica scored on a 5-meter to close to within three, 9-6, Aceres scored on a long shot for the 10-6 advantage. O'Neil finished the scoring with a goal, for the 11-8 final.
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.