Golden West Earns Trip to 13th Straight Title Game

Huntington Beach, CA - For the 13th straight time, the Golden West College (26-3) advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association Men's Water Polo State Championship Game on Friday afternoon with a 20-9 win over NorCal #2 Diablo Valley College (21-4). The Rustlers opened up a 7-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

Golden West opened up the game with a goal from Manuel Augosto in the Rustlers' first possession of the contest. The Vikings would answer when Donovan Chan took a pass from Berch Parker and put it in the back of the net, but that would be the last score of the quarter for Diablo Valley. Meanwhile, the Rustlers went on to score six unanswered to end the first frame, getting a 6-on-5 goal from Augosto, a pair of strikes from Taylor Lungu, and individual goals from Riley Pfieffer, Barnabas Vidovics, and Matija Jancic.

The Rustlers wouldn't take their foot off the gas in the second quarter, as they scored the first two goals to jump out to a 9-1 lead. Diablo Valley would rally with three of the next four to pull within 4-10, but Golden West scored twice more, getting goals from Konstantinos Koulouris and Vidovics to head into the break 12-4. 

The Vikings would manage five more goals over the final 16 minutes of action, but GOlden West bested that with eight of their own. In the end, the deep roster of the Rustlers was too much for the Vikings, as Golden West had 12 different athletes score in the 11 point victory.  

Koulouris and Lungu would lead the way for the Rustlers with a team high three goals a piece. Goalie Spencery Tybur played the first two quarters and stopped four of the eight shots he faced. For Diablo Valley Chan would pave the way with a game high four goals and a game high eight exclusions drawn.

With the win, Golden West advances to the Championship Game tomorrow where they will face either an old foe in Long Beach City College or upstart Sierra College. The Championship Game is set for a 12:15PM start tomorrow afternoon in their home water.