(Norwalk, CA) After defeating Cerritos in the semifinals, the Mountie Men's Water Polo Team lost to Long Beach City, 4-9, in the South Coast Conference Championship Game. 

The Mounties will regroup and will enter the upcoming California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern California Championships as the No. 3 seed.

Mt. SAC (20-5) will play No. 6 seed L.A. Valley (14-7-1), the Western States Conference Champions on Friday (Nov. 15) at 12:45 pm, at Riverside City College in the quarterfinal match.

A win will advance the Mounties into the So Cal semifinals and a chance at a CCCAA State Championship berth.

"Our conference is always so strong," Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo Head Coach Marc Ruh said. "Our conference has the No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 10 So Cal seeds. That says a lot about our conference strength.

"We are looking forward to taking advantage of our next opportunity."

In the championship game against LBCC, Brandon Shew and Green led the Mounties with three goals each, along with two by Tauer and one by Brandon Knapp.

After the Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the opening period, the Mounties scored the next three goals by Tauer, Shew and Green for a 3-1 lead by early in the second.

Long Beach, which won its third straight conference title, scored six of the next seven goals to take a 7-4 lead at the half.

"We had a little bit of as letdown in the middle of the game and were disciplined enough to not get rattled," Ruh said. "We fought back and tied it up."

At the 6:14 mark of the third period, Shew scored the first of his two goals in the period, along with Knapp and Green. The goal by Green tied the game at 8-8 in the last second of the period.

The Vikings, who received the No. 1 seed in So Cal's, took charge in the final period by outscoring the Mounties, 6-1.

"I think Long Beach's experience came through in the final four minutes as they pulled ahead on a couple of breaks that did not go our way," Ruh added. "It was a great experience for our team, though, and we hope to learn from it. It's always great to be in the conference final."

In the 13-10 semifinal win over Cerritos, sophomore Jarrett Barker led the Mounties with four goals, followed by Kyle Green, Ian Tauer and Justin Wakefield with two goals each.

Goalie Andres Mercado picked up his 18th win of the season for the Mounties.

The score was tied at 3-3 after one period of play, but the Falcons scored twice to start the second period for the 5-3 lead. But, the Mounties scored six of the next eight goals by six different players to take a 9-7 lead heading into the final period.

Five of those goals came with a man advantage.

Barker led the Mounties with a pair of goals in the final period, along with individual goals from Green and Wakefield.

 

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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.