Although they faced a pair of South Coast Conference opponents over the weekend, the Cerritos College men's water polo team finished in third place at the Cypress Tournament. The Falcons (4-4) opened with a 19-7 win over conference foe Chaffey College, before their lone loss of the day, a 17-8 setback against Ventura College. Rebounding on Saturday, Cerritos defeated conference opponent El Camino College, 12-10 and then squeezed out an 11-10 win over San Diego Mesa College in the third place game.

They will now take part in the Golden West Tournament next weekend and open with an 8:40 a.m. game next Friday against Los Angeles Valley College. With a win, they will play at 1:20 p.m., while a loss puts them in the 12:10 p.m. game. 

In the opening win over Chaffey, Cerritos jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the first period and then held a convincing 13-5 advantage at intermission. Six different players scored in the first period, with 10 eventually scoring in the game. Freshman Cruz Cassayre (Warren HS) led the team with three goals and six steals, with seven posting a pair of goals in the win. All three goalies saw action in the game and freshman Tripp Johnson (Kennedy HS) recorded his first collegiate win, as he made four saves in two periods.

Sophomore Christian Acosta (Schurr HS) led the scoring against Ventura with three goals, while sophomore goalie Aiden Parra (California HS) added four steals to go with his 13 saves. 

Although the Falcons led the whole way against the Warriors, they had to withstand a late fourth period rally, as their opponents scored four of the final five goals in the game. The second period allowed Cerritos to break a 3-3 tie when Julian Almanza (St. John Bosco HS), Guillermo De La Mora (La Serna HS), Max Lucero (Whittier HS) and Drew Gilbert (Garden Grove HS) all scored to help open a 7-4 advantage at halftime. Almanza (five steals) scored twice in the third period, with each score giving Cerritos a four-goal lead. He and De La Mora each scored three times in the game, while Acosta assisted on four of the goals.

In the third place game, Cerritos held an 11-7 lead with 3:38 left after Almanza scored his fourth goal of the game. But the Olympians kept the Falcons off the scoreboard the rest of the game and scored three consecutive goals to draw to within a goal before time ran out. Almanza also had four steals, while Parra turned away 14 shots and picked up three steals in a strong game in goal.