The Tigers lose by a point to Long Beach City

RIVERSIDE (10-5-2012) - In their second match of the day at the Riverside City College Invitational tournament at the Riverside Aquatic Complex, the #5 ranked RCC men's water polo team lost by one goal in an intense, fast-paced match against #4 ranked Long Beach City College by a score of 13-12. The Tigers got off to slow start by getting outscored in the first quarter 3-0. The slow start continued through the entire first half, which was dominated by LBCC, who ended the half leading 7-2.

In second half, the Tigers started heated up behind sophomores Trent Virgil and Sean Evans, who combined for nine goals as RCC closed the gap to two by ending the third period trailing 9-7. In the fourth quarter, the RCC men continued to put pressure on the Vikings by twice trailing by one goal leading into the final minute of the game.

With just 57 seconds remaining in the final period and trailing by a score of 13-12, RCC called a timeout to run a play to tie the game. After the timeout, the Riverside men ran a play to Evans, who ended up getting a shot in front of the goal at three meters out that was blocked. After getting another defensive stop, the Tigers had another chance to tie the game with seven seconds left and no timeouts remaining. The ball went out to the right side to sophomore Matt Hass, who had three assists in the game. Hass attempted to pass the ball to a driving Evans in front of the goal, but the pass was intercepted by an Viking defender as time expired.

With the loss, Tigers drop their overall record to 9-6, 2-0 in conference play.