Mt. San Antonio, Cerritos, LBCC All Part Of State Top 10 In Men's Water Polo
SCC Men's Water Polo Standings
SCC Men's Water Polo Statistics
SCC Men's Water Polo Schedule
Three South Coast Conference teams were in the first State Top 10 rankings as the 2022 men's water polo season figures to again be a story of can anyone stop 4-time defending SCC champ Long Beach City College.
Despite a misleading 9-10 overall record, Mt. San Antonio was ranked #6, followed by Long Beach (6-4) at #7, and Cerritos (13-3) at #9.
On Sept. 16, Mt. SAC opened conference games with a 17-7 win over Chaffey. Six of the Mounties losses were against 4-year university teams including four at the Annapolis, Maryland Tournament where Mt. SAC faced two preseason-ranked NCAA Top 25 programs in Bucknell and George Washington.
Mt. San Antonio features the state's leading goal scorer in Brandon Fabrega, who has 73 goals and was named CCCWPCA State Player of the Week. The three early state leaders in saves are all South Coast goalies topped by Mt. SAC's Noah Stark with 221 saves, then Cerritos' Rene Borja (133), and El Camino's Gary Bellingham (122).
Mt. SAC has not won a SCC championship tournament title since the 2003 season (shared crown with LBCC when team scoring points were combined between round robin and tournament play).
Cerritos, who last won the conference crown in 2016, is 2-0 in SCC play with victories over Rio Hondo, 17-5, and Chaffey, 19-7. The Falcons opened the year by knocking off five straight North opponents to win the Merced Tournament. Cerritos is in the midst of a 6-game winning streak, capturing three in a row at the San Diego Mesa Tourney on Sept. 23. Kobe Hurtado leads the Falcons with 34 goals.
After winning its 22nd SCC title last year, Long Beach began South Coast play with a 19-7 triumph over Rio Hondo and played in two of the more premier early tournaments. The Vikings went 3-1 at the West Valley Nyquist Tournament and 2-2 over the weekend at the Cuesta Arena Fall Classic. Long Beach lost 11-7 to long-time, arch rival Golden West, the 5-time defending CCCAA state champions.
LBCC is led by All-SCC First Team letterman Nicolas Fedotov, who has 20 goals.
El Camino is 7-6 overall and is paced by Bronson Garel, who is fourth in state scoring with 42 goals. Rio Hondo (2-8) is led by Aaron Ayala, currently ninth in the state in goals with 37. Chaffey (1-7 overall) rounds out the 6-team SCC with Benjamin Dow its early top scorer with 18 goals.
The SCC Championship Tournament will be played at El Camino College on Nov. 4-5.
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID