Long Beach Men's Water Polo Collects 22nd SCC Championship

A year off in the pool due to the COVID-19 pandemic did not change the dynamic in South Coast Conference men's water polo. Long Beach City College continued its dynasty in the sport by winning its 22nd conference title, defeating Cerritos, 19-10, in the championship game of the 2021 SCC Tournament. The tourney was played Nov. 4-6 at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Vikings (21-5) earned the #2 seed for the Southern California Championships this Nov. 11-13 at Southwestern College. Cerritos (19-11) is the #6 seed while SCC third place Mt. San Antonio (12-16) grabbed the 10th and final seed. SoCal Championship Bracket

In the tourney final, Long Beach jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, held a 7-2 advantage by halftime, and erupted for 12 goals in the second half. A typical physical type game late in a tournament produced a combined 28 exclusions (14 for each squad), but it evened out with five power play goals for each team.

At even strength, LBCC controlled the contest behind six goals and six assists by Tomasso Baldineti, two goals and six helpers from Andrej Maodus, and four goals netted by Nikola Jancic. VIkings goalie Kai Goeku made seven saves. Cerritos was paced by Mario Vanzillotta, who scored three goals and picked up three assists to add to his SCC-leading total in that category, and three goals by conference goals leader Dominic Hernandez. 

The Vikings may be up against it in a quest for a state title as four of their five losses this season came against rival and #1 seed Golden West (the other defeat v. Long Beach State University). Long Beach was the state finalist in 2019, but last won the crown in 2015. Golden West has won the last four state championships. 

Third Place Final-Mt. San Antonio 8, Rio Hondo 4: Solid defense by the Mounties allowed them to hold Rio Hondo off the scoresheet for the first three quarters as they built a 6-0 lead, scoring two goals in each of the periods. Noah Stark, the conference leader in goalie blocks, made seven saves for Mt. SAC. Trevor Ingersol scored two goals and two assists while Luke Noblett netted the hat trick. The Roadrunners Aaron Avila scored two goals and took 13 of his team's 27 shots and Matthew Escobar totaled 10 saves. 

Fifth Place Final-Chaffey 10, El Camino 8: Chaffey rallied from down 5-1 late in the first quarter as Benjamin Dow's power play goal with 4:26 left broke a 7-7 tie and helped the Panthers capture fifth place. Dow, who leads the SCC in steals, scored five goals and Chaffey goalie Kevin De Lama came up big with 13 saves. Cole Allyn led El Camino with three goals.

Thursday, Nov. 4, First Round Scores
Mt. San Antonio 18, Chaffey 7
Rio Hondo 13, El Camino 10
Cerritos 10, Mt. San Antonio 9
Long Beach 17, Rio Hondo 6