Vikings Rally For 5th Straight SCC Men's Water Polo Championship

Long Beach City College refuses to lose when it comes to the sport of water polo. The Vikings rallied from down 6-4 late in the first half and defeated Cerritos, 13-11, in the championship match of the 2022 South Coast Conference Men's Water Polo Tournament held Nov. 3 and 5 at El Camino College.

It was Long Beach's fifth straight conference title and 23rd overall SCC crown going back to 1986.

The physical contest included 33 exclusions, 19 on LBCC, and produced 15 goals with the man advantage (Cerritos with eight power play scores).

The Vikings (19-8 overall) finished 7-0 in conference games and ran their SCC winning streak to 23 games going back to the 2018 season (a 7-6 loss to Cerritos that ended the round robin part of the schedule that year).

Long Beach earned the #3 seed and are the hosts for the Southern California Championships this Nov. 10-12. Cerritos is the #8 seed while SCC third-place Mt. San Antonio the #9 seed. SoCal Championship Bracket

In the title match, Kobe Hurtado's second of his three goals gave the Falcons a 6-4 advantage with 2:04 left in the second quarter. Michael Minera's second PP goal finally gave Long Beach the lead for good at 8-7 with 4:47 remaining in the third quarter. Minera added his third goal of the period as the Vikings eventually led 10-8 going into the fourth quarter. After the Falcons' Dominic Hernandez scored to cut it to 10-9, Itay Batito netted back-to-back shots that gave LBCC enough distance to win the title. 

Like Minera, Batito finished with a hat trick and Harry Peterson added two goals. For second-place Cerritos (21-13, 5-3), Hernandez tallied three goals, four assists and set a school record by drawing 12 Long Beach ejections. 

THIRD PLACE FINAL, MT. SAN ANTONIO 23, EL CAMINO 11: The Mounties (15-14, 5-2) placed third in the SCC behind a 9-point performance by Brandon Fabrega (five goals, four assists) and 6-point games from Aidan Murphy (four goals, two helpers), Jude Solis and Zack Ewing, each with three goals and three assists. For El Camino, Bronson Garel notched three goals and made three field blocks.

FIFTH PLACE FINAL: RIO HONDO 13, CHAFFEY 9: David Gutierrez and Aaron Ayala each powered in four goals and Alexander Duenez added three as the Roadrunners placed fifth in conference. For Chaffey, Dillon Manion scored four goals and Benjamin Dow chipped in three.

NOV. 3, DAY 1 SCORES
El Camino 18, Rio Hondo 17
Cerritos 13, Chaffey 8
Long Beach 22, El Camino 10
Cerritos 12, Mt. San Antonio 11