This year’s Pacific Coast Athletic Conference men’s water polo championship title looks to be hotly contested. So far, the Grossmont Griffins remain in familiar territory — at the top of the pile — through the opening round of league play.
The Griffins improved to 3-0 in conference play (6-1 overall) following Monday’s 10-5 victory at Southwestern College. The win built on previous victories against Palomar (12-8 on Sept. 5) and San Diego Mesa (14-11 on Sept. 19).
This year’s Pacific Coast Athletic Conference men’s water polo championship title looks to be hotly contested. So far, the Grossmont Griffins remain in familiar territory — at the top of the pile — through the opening round of league play.
The Griffins improved to 3-0 in conference play (6-1 overall) following Monday’s 10-5 victory at Southwestern College. The win built on previous victories against Palomar (12-8 on Sept. 5) and San Diego Mesa (14-11 on Sept. 19).
Grossmont appears to be gathering momentum for the second half of conference play after posting a 3-1 showing at the South of the Border tournament Sept. 21-22 at Mesa College.
The Griffins defeated El Camino (20-3), Citrus College (21-6) and Fullerton (19-8) while dropping a 19-10 match-up to eighth-ranked Cerritos.
Grossmont had to work harder than usual to defeat a much-improved Southwestern team on Monday. The Griffins topped the Jaguars by scores of 23-4, 17-5 and 24-9 last year.
“This game shows the progress we’ve made but it was also frustrating because of the mistakes we made,” SWC coach Jorge Ortega said.
Grossmont was adept at capitalizing on mistakes by the hosts in build a modest 4-1 lead at the end of the first period and then taking control of the contest with a 7-2 edge at halftime.
Southwestern (8-6, 0-2 in conference) finished the game with three late goals.
Sophomore Daniel Straub (Patrick Henry) paced Grossmont with four goals while sophomore James Smith (Pacifica) scored twice. The Griffins received a goal each from sophomores Steve Perdew (Cathedral Catholic) and Brent Kerrigan (Steele Canyon) and freshmen Nolan Faucher (Valhalla) and Jake James (Valhalla).
Perdew entered the week leading the team with 23 goals, followed by Straub with 16 goals and freshman Garison Covel (Palm Desert) with 14 goals.
Sophomore goalie Bryan Cook (Cathedral Catholic) is having a standout season in the cage. He entered Monday’s game with 78 saves and a team-leading 35 steals.
Grossmont finished 8-0 in PCAC play, 22-7 overall last season.
The 2012 PCAC championship tournament is scheduled Nov. 1-2 at Miramar College. The Southern California regionals are scheduled Nov. 8-10 in Fullerton. This year’s state championship tournament is slated Nov. 16-17 in Northern California.
