A seven goal performance from Viking attacker Fabio De Marco led the Long Beach City College men’s water polo team to a 15-11 victory over Mt. San Antonio College on Oct. 28, pushing their overall record to 18-7.
Long Beach came out slow offensively, as Mt. SAC’s defense seemed to be too much for the team to handle. A late surge in the first quarter allowed LBCC to keep the contest close.
LBCC dominated the second quarter, holding the ball more and scoring the most and as the second quarter ended, Long Beach City College held a 9-6 lead over Mt. SAC.
LBCC held a 13-10 lead entering the fourth quarter, where its defense shut down Mt. SAC’s offense to secure a 15-11 victory.
Mt. SAC head coach Marc Ruh was asked how he felt about his team’s performance after the game.
“I mean, it was an average performance, so we are going to work harder to improve everything that went wrong on both offense and defense,” Ruh said,
LBCC assistant coach Michael Carrillo reflected on the team’s defense early on and adaptability throughout the game.
“Yes, the defense struggles, but it’s because this team, Mt. SAC, has these creative drives where they go towards the goal and keep us in tough positions where we can lose good positioning. It did take us a while to understand, and once we learned, the defense became great and made it harder for them to score,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo was still critical of LBCC’s defense, noting the issues with consistency that the team had.
“It was good because they did keep it close, but I do wish it was more consistent to shut them out each quarter. The player did learn from their mistakes and also finished the shots they needed to finish, and also they learned from their mistakes and became better,” Carrillo said.
The Vikings’ offense was dominant after the first quarter, even at one point scoring six unanswered goals.
“Offense is doing better because we are starting to get ourselves, you know it takes a couple of missed shots to be able to find the right shots, but we are getting better at finishing our shots,” Carrillo said.
The LBCC players echoed a similar message of poor defense, but an offense good enough to get them the win.
“It was good on offense, but on defense it could have been better. My offense, I think, was better, but maybe a couple more effort on defense in a couple of situations and to be more forced and more patient on offense,” LBCC utility player Milos Djanic said.
Djanic noted the multiple aspects of the offense that still needed to be improved.
“To play harder and to play better offense and be more patient for a little bit so that we can play more. But also play more passing and more center and to control the defense,” Djanic said.
After winning, LBCC moved from second to first place in the conference.
The Vikings’next match will be the beginning of the SCC Championships on Nov. 5, where LBCC’s opponent is still undecided.
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