Golden West Enters Tournament as Heavy Favorites

The Golden West College men's water polo team is an eyelash from wrapping up a 35th straight conference title entering the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Tournament this Friday at Golden West.  The Rustlers are 29-4 entering the tournament.

Golden West has lost only four games all season, three of which have come against four-year schools.  The lone loss to a 3C2A school was a 12-9 setback against West Valley College in a tournament at Cerritos College in mid-October.

Golden West cruised through the OEC regular season, finishing 5-0.  The Rustlers defeatedsecond place Orange Coast College, 14-7, and third place Cypress, 17-7.  Golden West has a bye in the opening round of the tournament and will face the winner of Saddleback College (4) and Riverside City College (5), who play at 9:00 AM in the opening round.  GWC will face the winner at 1:00 PM.  

Orange Coast College enters as the 2-seed and will have a bye before facing the winner of Cypress College (3) and Fullerton College (6).  The Pirates will play the winner at 2:20 PM in the other semi-final.

Golden West has a balanced attack, with 10 players scoring 20-or-more goals during the season.   Michael Rogers currently leads the team with 54 goals.  The Rustlers used three goalkeepers during the course of the season, with the bulk of the work going to Pablo Souza.

Orange Coast enters the tournament at 18-10 overall and 4-1 in OEC play.  The Pirates are led by the dynamic duo of Cade Zeilinger and Carmelo Bangs, who have scored 68 and 66 goals, respectively.  Roman Christenot has been the workhorse in goal, starting 26 games.

Cypress had its best finish since bringing back water polo in 2019 when it finished third in the standings.  The Chargers enter at 13-10 overall and 3-2 in conference play.  Cypress is led by Porter Rosenlof who has 74 goals in 21 starts, which is tied for 12th in the state.  Rosenlof isn't alone, as Wes Brezada enters with 65 goals and Kai Banua has 56.

Saddleback (17-13, 2-3) enters as the No. 4 seed but is one of the hotter teams entering the tournament.  The Bobcats have won nine of their past 10 games and made it all the way to the finals of the Golden West Invitational before falling to Golden West.  Armand Le Goff has the seventh most goals in the state with 89 while Cross Viter enters the tournament with 70.  Samuel van Benten has played in all but one game during the season for the Bobcats.

The tournament is set to start on Friday at Golden West College.

(Brad Hoiseth, Saddleback)