Long Beach Men's Water Polo Advances to Second-Straight SCC Championship Tournament Finals

After an opening-round bye, the top-seeded Long Beach City College men's water polo team hopped into the pool for its first game in the South Coast Conference (SCC) championships on Friday evening against Rio Hondo after Rio Hondo defeated Chaffey in the first round. A victory against Chaffey was all the taste of victory Rio Hondo would experience as Long Beach dominated the contest from the get go en route to a 21-3 tromping.

It was gas pedal all the way for the Vikings as they lead wire-to-wire by starting off on an 8-0 run that stretch early into the second period. Freshman attacker Myles Martinez and freshman center Ian Dretzka both fired home two netters in that timespan with Martinez assisting on one of Dretzka's scores. Martinez went on to score two more goals in the second period as well.

Four different Vikings scored in a four-goal third quarter with freshman attacker Carl Matthews linking up with freshman attacker Alex Moran for a score. Freshman attacker Chaz Harker joined the scoring parade, followed by goals from Moran and freshman attacker Timothy Nilan, respectfully.

Dretzka highlighted the scoring efforts in the fourth quarter by humming home two more goals leading to a 21-3 rout.

Dretzka led the way with five goals, while Martinez backed him with four goals and two assists. Harker chipped in three goals as well.

Freshman goalkeeper Nick Wood earned the victory by hauling in six saves in three quarters. Freshman Luke Abell finished out the goalkeeping duties in the final frame and earned one save.

The Vikings (19-4, 7-0 SCC) will face off against Cerritos in the SCC Championship finals at 2 p.m. The Vikings beat Cerritos by the final score of 11-9 on October 19.