The Same Thorn

Valley Glen, CA -- After last season's breakout campaign by the Citrus College Men's Water Polo program, there was only program that stood in the way of the Owls and their first potential conference championship in 12 years. Los Angeles Valley College. With the Owls continuing on the upswing, the Monarchs are the same old thorn, as they upended Citrus 20-17 in overtime in the two schools' Western State Conference opener on Wednesday afternoon.

The matchup looked like a toss-up headed into Wednesday's tilt, and it was Valley who landed the first blow taking a 5-4 lead after the first quarter. The two schools traded three goals each in the second, before Valley took a two goal lead into the fourth 12-10 after a 4-3 third. The Owls battled back in the fourth and forced an improbable overtime thanks to a prayer of a goal by sophomore Mark Cordts as time expired that tied the game at 16-16. In extra time, Valley opened up with a 3-0 first overtime period and Citrus never recovered.

In the loss, Citrus was paced by freshman Daniel Velazquez who scored a team high six goals, to go along with three assists, five drawn ejections, and a pair of steals. Sophomore Jonathan Lotero added four goals, but drew his third ejection of the game early in the fourth quarter.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 13-3 on the season, but more importantly 0-1 in WSC play. The Owls will take a break from action this weekend before resuming tournament play against four four-year schools next weekend at the 2015 Lancer Invite hosted by California Baptist University. Citrus opens the weekend against their host next Friday October 9th at 1:30 PM.