By John M. Sherrard
(LONG BEACH) The Mt. SAC Women Water Polo team split two games in the second day of the "Battle of the Beach" Tournament at Long Beach City College Saturday.
The first game saw a 6-4 setback to Citrus College, followed by a 9-5 victory over Saddleback College.
The Mounties will now set their sights on the last game of the regular season in the South Coast Conference this Wednesday at Long Beach City College.
"This tournament is the last tune-up before conference wraps up," Mt. SAC coach Chris Jackson said.
"We were in every game. Hopefully we clean up our mistakes as we head into conference championships and the So Cal playoffs."
In the Citrus loss, freshman 2-meter player Kayla De Herrera scored twice for the Mounties, while freshman 2-meter player Marina Valenzuela and freshman defender Alexis Aguirre (5 steals) each had a goal. Freshman attacker Clare Rowland had three steals and Mt. SAC as a team had 16.
Valenzuela was the lone goal scorer in the first period and De Herrera put Mt. SAC up, 2-0, at 3:20 of the second.
Citrus came back with two goals to tie the game at 2-2 and the half would end up at 3-3.
Citrus outscored the Mounties, 3-1, in the second half for the 6-4 final.
In the final game of the tournament for the Mounties the offense came alive with nine goals, spread out over six players.
The 9-5 win over Saddleback was the first for the Mounties since a 7-2 win in early October over Cypress.
Aguirre, Rowland and De Herrera each had two goals in the game, followed by Krolik, sophomore Beth Keane, and freshman attacker Christina Nunez with a goal each.
Mt. SAC never trailed in the game, building up a four-goal lead, 7-3, at the half.