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Posted: Oct 15, 2014

A Tough Stretch

Freshman Jonathan Lotero scored 11 goals on the weekend for the Owls at the Riverside Invitational.
Freshman Jonathan Lotero scored 11 goals on the weekend for the Owls at the Riverside Invitational.
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Riverside, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Water Polo team experienced arguably their toughest stretch this past weekend at the Riverside Invitational. The Owls faced two of the top four teams in the State, and faced another SoCal contender and were sent home with a 1-3 weekend.

The Owls started off the weekend well enough with a win over Grossmont College. The Owls jumped out to an early 6-3 lead after one, before settling in for an 11-6 win at the break. The Griffins would rally in the second half, but Citrus hung on for the 15-13 win. In the win, freshman Jonathan Lotero scored five times, while freshman William Martinez scored four more.

Later in the day, Citrus drew defending State Champs Long Beach City College. The Owls hung tough with the Vikings for the better part of three quarters, before Long Beach hit the gas. Citrus actually took a 4-3 lead after the first quarter, but went into the break tied 6-6. Long Beach began to distance themselves in the third taking a 9-7 advantage before, outscoring Citrus 3-0 in the fourth for the 12-7 win. Lotero and Martinez again led the way with two scores each.

Citrus picked things back up on Saturday against another State Finalist in Diablo Valley College. Before the Owls knew what hit them, Citrus was down 4-0 and never really recovered. The Owls were outscored in each quarter falling 17-6. Lotero added three more goals in the loss.

With the DVC loss fresh in their minds, Citrus came out sluggish in their closing game against Orange Coast College. The Owls fell behind 4-2 after one, but pulled even 7-7 at the break. In the second half, the Pirates just had more as they outscored them by one in each the third and fourth en route to a 11-13 loss for Citrus. Martinez scored three goals in the loss, while freshman Mark Cordts matched Martinez's three.

With the 1-3 record on the weekend, Citrus falls to 15-5 on the year. The Owls will try and rally on Wednesday when they host Santa Monica College in a Western State Conference offering at the Citrus College Aquatics Center at 3:30 PM on Wednesday.