Griffins water polo: back-to-back titles
- Updated: November 6, 2022
2022 GROSSMONT COLLEGE WATER POLO
ECS staff report
CHULA VISTA — The state-of-the-art aquatics center may be located at Southwestern College, but Grossmont College definitely owns the tank.
On Saturday (Nov. 5), the Griffins captured their second straight Pacific Coast Athletic Conference men’s water polo, crushing the “host” Jaguars, 13-6.
Grossmont (17-9 overall, 7-0 PCAC) raced to a 6-2 first-period lead and were never threatened, gaining a berth to next week’s CCCAA Southland regional. The Griffins will face Riverside in the opening round.
Southwestern (22-7 overall) grabbed a quick 2-0 lead, then it was all Grossmont, registering seven consecutive goals to pull away to capture the crown for the second straight season.
The comeback started when Ryan Beery took a Ryland Humphrey pass to close the gap to 2-1. The Humphrey-Beery connection switched positions with Humphrey scoring and Beery assisting on the next pair of Grossmont goals to secure the lead for good.
For the contest, six different Griffins scored a pair of goals. Joining Humphrey were Beery, Ethan Lawler, Austin Wenzel, Casey Schwettmann and Joseph Asaro. The other goal was tallied by Raul Rico.
Berry had five assists on the day. Donald Nelson (2), Wenzel (2), Humphrey (1) and Asaro (1) also added assists.
In the G-House goal, Eric Bates recorded the victory with eight saves off of just 14 Southwestern shots.
In other PCAC Tournament action, third place went to Palomar after downing San Diego Mesa, 15-12, while San Diego Miramar took out Crafton Hills of Yucaipa, 20-14, for fifth place.
Regional
The Griffins will face Riverside (11-21) in the first round of the CCCAA Southern California Regional on Thursday (Nov. 10) at Long Beach City College.
The Tigers finished in fourth place in the Orange Empire Conference after dropping the third-place contest to Orange Coast, 12-10, in the OEC Tournament.
Women
In the PCAC women’s water polo tournament,also held at Southwestern, the title went to Palomar after nipping San Diego Mesa, 7-6. Third place went to Grossmont after out-lasting the host Jaguars, 8-7.
