Come Back and Come Down

Glendora, CA – The Citrus College Men's Water Polo team experienced the best of times and the worst of times on Saturday afternoon during the final day of the 43rd Annual Mt. San Antonio College Men's Water Polo Tournament that they co-hosted over the weekend. The Owls had a come back in their opener with Sierra College, but experienced a come down in the finale against Orange Coast College where they squandered a three goal lead at the half in an eventual loss.

In the opener against the Wolverines, Citrus saw Sierra jump out to an early but small lead before the Owls rallied off a goal by freshman Jonathan Wong to tie the game up at 4-4 at the end of the first. In the second, Sierra would extend their lead to two goals with 39 seconds left, but a score by sophomore Vincent Edwards with 10 seconds to go, would leave the Owls trailing by just one 8-9 as the game went into the break.

Sierra would open the third with a goal to extend their lead to two, but four straight goals by the Owls, one from Wong, two from sophomore Daniel Velazquez, and another from Edwards, put Citrus up 12-10. The Wolverines weren't going to give up that easy though, as they scored the final two goals of the quarter to send the game into the fourth knotted up at 12-12.

In the fourth, Sierra would briefly retake the lead 13-12, but the Owls rallied with a 6-1 run that saw a one goal deficit turn into a 18-14 lead after another score by Velazquez with 2:26 to go. The Wolverines would score twice more before the quarter was up, but the Owls' lead was too much to overcome. In the win, Wong led all Owl scorers with eight goals, while Velazqeuz added seven. Sophomore James Cano contributed to the cause with four assists, two steals, and a pair of drawn exclusions, while sophomore goalie Drake Santos finished with 12 saves, an assist, and a steal.

The second game of the day and the final of the weekend, played out in nearly the exact opposite manner. Orange Coast would score the game's first three goals, but the Owls answered with scored by sophomore James Adams, along with goals by Velazquez and Edwards to make it 3-3 at the end of one. In the second quarter, Citrus seemingly began to pull away, outscoring the Pirates 6-3, to head into halftime leading 9-6.

Unfortunately for Citrus, after that Orange Coast clamped down on defense, and the Citrus offense was stymied. The Owls went scoreless in the third quarter, but still led by one 9-8 as the game headed into the fourth. The Pirates would go one to score three more unanswered in the fourth to pull ahead 11-9, before Wong broke things up with a score with nine seconds left to keep Citrus' loss to a single goal.

In the loss, Adams and Velzaquez paced the Owls offensively with three goals each. Adams also had a team high two assists to go along with a pair of exclusions drawn, while Santos finished the game with 11 more saves.

With the win and the loss, Citrus moves to 7-4 on the year. The Owls will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to NCAA DIII powerhouse Whittier College for a 7:00 PM showdown with the Poets.