Men’s Water Polo: Vikings open SCC play with 15-8 win at Cerritos

Sophomore Tristan Winterhalter (pictured) scored a team-high five goals to lead the Long Beach City College men's water polo team to a convincing 15-8 win at Cerritos College in both teams' South Coast Conference opener.

The win improved LBCC to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the SCC while Cerritos dropped to 6-4 and 0-1.

Wednesday's match was tight during the opening quarters as Long Beach held a slim 2-1 lead after the first and was up 7-5 at halftime.

But once the second half started, the Vikings turned to Winterhalter, who scored three of his game-high five goals in the third quarter. His two goals in the span of 26 seconds turned a close 9-6 game into an 11-6 Long Beach lead.

Additionally, Viking sophomore goalkeeper Vince Ward came up with several big saves each time the Falcons looked to get back into the game. Ward closed the win with 11 saves.

Freshman Mac Aahkus added a pair of goals for Long Beach while eight other Vikings scored single goals.

It was the Vikings' second win over Cerritos in a week. LBCC downed the Falcons 7-5 on Saturday at last weekend's Golden West Invitational.

Long Beach returns to action this Friday (Sep 16) when it begins play at the two-day Cuesta College Invitational.