Men’s Water Polo Returns Home in RCC Mini Tournament

For the first time in two years, the Riverside City College men's water polo team hosted two games in their home pond. And to top it off, they won in commanding fashion.

The Tigers hosted a pair of teams in Citrus and Palomar for the RCC Mini Tournament this afternoon at the Riverside Aquatics Complex. After slow starts in both games, mainly in the battle against Citrus, the Tigers prevailed by a significant margin.

Game One

Riverside conceded the first goal of the game, but came roaring back to take a 3-2 lead after the opening eight minutes of play. Citrus netted the opening score on an advantage, but a set of goals from freshman Relja Mitic quickly put the Tigers on top.

Citrus made things interesting by tying the game up at five-all at the half, but a 5-0 Riverside run the ensuing quarter put the Tigers in the driver's seat.

It was the Reese Starkey show on offense as the sophomore netted four total goals. Freshman Louis Grandi capped the run with a netter to take a 10-5 advantage.

Citrus did not back off in the final quarter by scoring five goals, but the Tigers bested their efforts yet again by humming home six goals. Freshman Sebestian De La Pena-Kenley was the conduit to the fourth-quarter spark with two goals in the first three minutes. Grandi added two, while Starkey sent two more scores home to put the final nail in the coffin.

Freshman Seth Zarn (4-6) earned the win between the posts en route to 10 saves – his second-strongest total on the year.

Starkey led with six goals, while Grandi backed him with four. Starkey was also a menace on the defensive end by matching his career-high total in steals with six.

Game Two

It was an offensive melee in the Tigers favor as they scored a season-high 22 goals en route to a dominating 22-9 win over Palomar.

Nine players scored at least one goal with six players scoring two or more goals. Freshman John Mahon, Grandi and Mitic led the charge with four netters, while Starkey followed with three.

Freshman Seth Zarn, who is primarily a goalkeeper, got in on the scoring by firing home his first career netter.

Granid paced the team in assists with three.

Freshman tandem Pavle Ristic and Ben Betty shared the goalkeeper duties as each played two quarters. Ristic (3-3) had four saves and earned the win, while Betty followed with three.