Pirates sweep through four straight at Cuesta tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Orange Coast (,) | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
|
Rio Hondo (,) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The Orange Coast College men's water polo team made the trek to Cuesta College a successful one, sweeping through all four matchups as last weekend's tournament.
Coast (13-4 overall) started things off with a solid 9-4 win over Mt. San Antonio on Saturday. Nicholas Fichman led the Pirates with three goals, while Gabriele Simonti and Tanner Sprague each added two goals. Solo tallies were turned in by Eduardo Wainberg and Felix Rivera, while goalie Steven Magdaleno notched 14 saves to preserve OCC's early lead throughout the contest.
Later on Saturday, the Pirates took on Santa Rosa and rolled past the Bear Cubs, 22-7. OCC jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Fichman scored a team-high five goals, while Akili Allen added four for Coast. Wainberg, Nicholas Ly and Ryan Baumann each scored two goals as the Pirates equalled their season high for goals, matching their 22-goal outburst against Ventura back on Sept. 15.
Coast returned to the Cuesta College pool on Sunday and notched a 16-9 win over Ventura, OCC's second win this year against the VC Pirates. OCC led 3-2 after one quarter before pulling away from VC with a 4-1 second quarter.
From there, the OCC Pirates racked up enough offense and locked down enough on defense to notch their third win in a row. Luke Rhone showed the depth of the Coast offense by leading the way with six goals. Fichman, Sprague and Angel Rosado each added two goals, while Simonti, Baumann, Wainberg and Gera Garcia each added one goal. Magdalano came up with nine saves to preserve the win.
In the finale, Coast made it 4-for-4 with an 11-5 win over Rio Hondo. A strong first half propelled the Pirates to an 8-2 first half lead and from there, the Pirates cruised to victory. Baumann led the offense with three goals, while Fichman added two. Solo tallies were contributed by Simonti, Wainberg, Allen, Sprague, Ly and Wyatt Ramirez. Magdaleno capped off a strong weekend in goal with a save-save performance.
Coast will return to Orange Empire Conference action on Wednesday at Fullerton College, beginning at 4 p.m.
