After opening an early 7-2 lead in the first period, the Cerritos College men's water polo team went on for a 17-8 non-conference win over Santa Monica College on Wednesday. Next up for the Falcons (7-6) will be their South Coast Conference opener, as they host Chaffey College at 3:00 p.m. next Wednesday.

Goals from five different players allowed the Falcons to open a 5-0 lead, while a pair of goals from Marco Uribe (St. John Bosco HS) and Christian Acosta (Schurr HS) in the second period helped the team take a 13-6 lead into intermission.

Both teams traded a goal in the third period, with consecutive goals from Uribe, Cruz Cassayre (Warren HS) and Julian Almanza (St. John Bosco HS) to start the fourth period put the game out of reach in the win.

Uribe led all scorers with five goals on five shots, while he also assisted on three others, with Max Lucero (Whittier HS) scoring three times in the win. The quartet of Acosta, Cassayre, Drew Gilbert (Garden Grove HS) and Ruben Martinez (Western HS) each scored twice, while Uribe, Cassayre and Gilbert all recorded three steals. As a team, Cerritos had 17 steals.

The freshmen goalkeeping tandem of Tripp Johnson (Kennedy HS) and Geo Fagiani (Schurr HS) each played a half and combined for seven saves.

Photos by Samuel Chacko