Cuesta Men's Water Polo entered the week with a sparkling 7-0 record but matched up with defending State Champion Golden West in today's pre-tournament game. The Rustlers and Cougars traded goals in the first quarter, 3-3, but then Cuesta's offense went silent over the next two periods. The defending Champions used their depth to wear down the Cougars and broke through with eight straight goals in the middle periods to put the game out of reach. The two teams also played even in the 4th quarter, 2-2, but the Cougars could not overcome the Rustlers lead. Cuesta used five different scorers for their goals, while Freshman Goaltender Armin Jusztin went the distance between the pipes and collected seven saves. The loss drops the Cougars to 7-1 on the season, while the Rustlers improve to 6-2.
Both the Cougars and Rustlers will head into the 43rd Arena Invitational early on Friday morning. The Cougars and Rustlers join eight other teams for the two-day, 10-team tournament. Golden West opens the tournament against Long Beach at 8 AM, while the Cougars play Game 2 against Merced (9:10) and Game 6 versus Long Beach (1:50). On Saturday, Cuesta plays Miramar (9:20) in the third game of the day and close-out their bracket with Riverside (2 PM).
43rd Cuesta Arena Invitational
Friday September 23
8:00AM Golden West vs. Long Beach
9:10AM Cuesta vs. Merced
10:20AM West Valley vs. Ventura
11:30AM LA Valley vs. SD Miramar
12:40PM Riverside vs. Mt Sac
1:50PM Cuesta vs. Long Beach
3:00 PM Ventura vs. Merced
4:10PM Golden West vs. Mt Sac
5:20PM Riverside vs. LA Valley
6:30PM West Valley vs. SD Miramar
Saturday September 24
7:00AM Riverside vs. West Valley
8:10AM Ventura vs. Golden West
9:20AM Cuesta vs. SD Miramar
10:30AM LA Valley vs. Mt Sac
11:40AM Long Beach vs. Merced
12:50PM Golden West vs. West Valley
2:00PM Cuesta vs. Riverside
3:10PM SD Miramar vs. Merced
4:20PM Mt Sac vs. Ventura
5:30PM LA Valley vs. Long Beach
