Men’s Water Polo: LBCC two wins from 10th state title, get South No. 2 seed for State Championships

Two wins are all that stands in the way of the Long Beach City College men's water polo team from capturing the Vikings' second straight and 10th overall state championship. Despite falling in the Southern California Regional final on Saturday, LBCC has qualified for the 2014 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Water Polo State Championship at American River College. The two-day championship event is set for November 21-22 in Sacramento.

All four teams from last year's state tournament field will make their return this season. Long Beach, the South's No. 2 seed, will open tournament play against Northern California champion Diablo Valley College of Pleasant Hill on Friday at 11:00 a.m. In the other semifinal contest, South champion Golden West College of Huntington Beach will face North No. 2 West Valley College of Saratoga at 3 p.m.

The winners will advance to the state championship final at 3 p.m. on Saturday while the third-place game will be played at 11 a.m.

Under coaches Chris Oeding and David Kasa, the Long Beach men will be making their 11th trip to the state championships in 13 years. The Vikings had their 18-game winning streak snapped in the Southern California final, but take a 23-2 overall record into the final weekend of play.

Long Beach and Diablo Valley (18-6 overall) split their two games this season. On opening day of the season, DVC edged LBCC 7-6 at the West Valley tournament. But on September 11 in Riverside, Long Beach got revenge with an 11-6 victory. Diablo Valley is coming off a 15-14 overtime win against West Valley in the Northern California final.

The Vikings went 3-0 against West Valley (19-8) this season and were 1-2 against Golden West (24-1).

 Long Beach secured its spot in the state championships by winning a pair of games at the Southern California Regional championships. LBCC defeated Grossmont College 20-10 in the quarterfinals before edging LA Valley College 11-9 in the semifinals.

In the SoCal final, a 5-1 halftime deficit was too much for the Vikings to overcome as they lost to Golden West by a final score of 9-5. Freshman Lovro Miocevic led LBCC with four goals while sophomore Blake Grove also scored. Freshman goalie Matej Matijevic had 16 saves.