Owls Take 2nd at Saddleback Tourney II
Mission Viejo, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Water Polo team had one of their best overall weekends of play this past Friday and Saturday at the Saddleback Tournament II down in South Orange County. The Owls went 3-1, finishing in second place, their only loss coming to SoCal #9 Grossmont College.
The Weekend started early Friday morning, when Citrus met up with El Camino College for the third time this year. The Owls swept the season series with an easy 9-1 win. The Owls jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after the first quarter and 6-0 lead at the break. Citrus scored twice more in the third, and didn't allow a Warrior goal until the fourth quarter nearly shutting out El Camino. In the win, Citrus was led by the effort of sophomore Christian Deamer who had a team best three goals.
Much later in the afternoon, Citrus took on San Diego Miramar College. The Owls put together their most decisive win of the year defeating the Jets 26-10. Miramar kept it close for exactly one quarter, trailing the Owls 3-5 after the first. In the second the Owls turned on the afterburners against the Jets scoring nine goals to Miramar's 1, as they took a commanding 14-4 lead into the break. Citrus kept it going in the third outscoring their opponent 7-0, before settling in for another five in the final quarter. Freshman Charles Ortega slotted nine goals in the win, the fourth most all-time in a single game in Citrus program history.
On day two, Citrus took on the weekend's host Saddleback College looking for a bit of revenge after the Gauchos defeated the Owls in overtime during their first tournament. It wouldn't be that close this time around as Citrus opened up the game with a 7-0 lead. The Gauchos tried to battle back in the second outscoring Citrus 4-3, but the Owls scored 11 goals to Saddlebacks three in the final two quarters as they cruised to a 21-7 win. Sophomore Robert "Austin" Sanchez and freshman Patrick Phommachanh each had six goals in the win.
In the final game, the Owls took on SoCal #9 Grossmont College. The Griffins took an early 4-2 lead, and then began to pull away in the second going into halftime up 9-4. Grossmont added another insurance goal in the third going up 14-8 after three, before each team scored three times in the fourth. In the end it was Grossmont who prevailed winning 17-11. Ortega pumped in five more goals in a losing effort.
With the three wins and a loss, Citrus improves to 16-12 overall. The Owls will take part in the 2013 Western State Conference Championship Tournament this upcoming weekend where they will try to extend their season. Citrus would more than likely have to win the tournament in order to qualify for the post-season which begins the following weekend. Citrus is the #4 seed headed into the tournament and will take on #5 Santa Monica College, who is also hosting the weekend's festivities. It'll be the fourth meeting this year between the two schools, with each of the previous three contests being decided by three goals or less. The game starts at 9:00 AM on Friday.