By John M.
Sherrard
(San Luis Obispo, CA) The Mt.
SAC Men's Water Polo team, closing in on the end of the regular season, traveled north to San Luis Obispo last weekend, October 13-14 and came away with a split of four games, two wins and two losses in the Cuesta College Tournament.
In the four games Mt. SAC defeated Merced 14-8, Cabrillo 19-1 and fell to Saddleback 11-7 and a 9-8 sudden death overtime loss to the Kap7/California Community College Athletic Association coaches poll No. 4-ranked (statewide) Cuesta College. "It was a very strong weekend for us," Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo coach Marc Ruh said. In the four games the Mounties, which are tied with Cuesta for the most games played in the state (24), upped their record to
14-10 overall.
Leading the way for Mt. SAC was sophomore utility Nick Perez with 12, followed by sophomore driver Roman Aceres with 11. Freshman utility Matt Rauch had eight goals and sophomore utility Adrian Hernandez scored seven for the Mounties in the four games. Freshman goalie Jake Simmons increased his state-leading saves to 388 with 64 in the four games.
Saddleback 11, Mt. SAC 7
In the first game on Friday the Mounties fell behind 4-2 in the opening period and 7-4 by the end of the first half. Early in the fourth period Mt. SAC closed within four, 10-6, on goals by freshman driver Aiden O'Neil, who had five goals in the tournament, and Rauch. The teams traded goals for the 11-7 final. "I felt like we struggled in our first game (Saddleback)," Ruh
said. "There just wasn't a lot of fire". "The team got together to sort out a couple of things and from that point on they played very well. They played great team defense, were focused and played as a team."
Mt. SAC 14, Merced 8
Mt. SAC, with balanced scoring from five players in the opening period, including two by Hernandez, took a 6-1 lead and scored another three goals in the second for a 9-2 halftime lead. The Mounties put the game away for good in the last 1:31 of the third period with single goals by Aceres, Rauch and Perez for the 12-4 in lead. Aceres and Rauch are second and fourth in the state with 76 and 65 goals respectively. "The win against Merced was a great bounce-back with a total team effort," Ruh added.
Cuesta 9, Mt. SAC 8 (Sudden Death OT)
If one loss defines a season this was the one for Mt. SAC. The Mounties took one of the top teams in the state to the brink with the overtime setback. The Mounties trailed 6-2 at the half but began the comeback in the third period. After Rauch won the sprint to begin the period, just fourteen seconds later Aceres scored the first of four goals by the Mounties on a pass from freshman utility Brad Poma to trail 6-3 at the 7:46 mark. Not long after his goal, Aceres stole the first of five Mt. SAC steals in the period. The Mounties totaled 16 thefts in the seven-period game. Three more goals by freshman utility Thomas Carney, Perez and Aceres brought them even to begin the fourth period 6-6. Early in the period Perez gave the Mounties their first lead of
the game 7-6 on an assist from freshman driver Aiden O'Neil. However, Cuesta tied the game 7-7 with 4:13 remaining and overtime loomed. Aceres again gave Mt. SAC an 8-7 lead in the first of the two three-minute OT periods, but Cuesta again came back with a tying goal, 8-8. Neither team scored in the second overtime setting the stage for the sudden death finish which Cuesta scored just 44 seconds into the period to end the game. "We came back from four goals down in this game and showed some real grit," Ruh said.
Mt. SAC 19, Cabrillo 1
After the Saturday morning thriller with Cuesta, the Mounties blitzed Cabrillo with 19 goals and nearly a rare shutout for the win. After the Mounties took an 11-0 lead into the third period, Cabrillo broke the shutout at the 6:58 mark to trail 11-1. Perez led the offensive onslaught with five goals followed by four goals each from Hernandez and Aceres. "They came back and beat Cabrillo with another good team effort," Ruh said.
The final South Coast Conference game will be Wednesday October 25 at Mt. SAC's Marie T. Mills Aquatics Complex against conference leader Long Beach City College (12-3, 3-0).
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.