Riverside Slated as Top Seed

The Riverside City College women's water polo team enters the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Tournament as the favorites on Thursday. The Tigers are 25-3 overall entering the tournament.

Riverside City has lost just three times all season, and all of the losses were to Long Beach City College. The Tigers went 5-0 in OEC play, with the closets battle being an 11-7 win against Orange Coast College.  RCC will have a bye in the opening round of the tournament before playing the winner of Fullerton College and Cypress College in the semifinals at 1:00 PM on Thursday at Golden West College.  Fullerton (4) and Cypress (5) play at 9:00 AM.

Orange Coast enters as the No. 2 seed and will have a bye before playing the winner of Saddleback College (3) and Golden West College (6) at 2:20 PM in the semifinals.  Saddleback and Golden West square off at 10:20 AM.

Riverside City is the sixth highest scoring team in the state, averaging 13.6 goals-per-game.  The Tigers are led by freshman sensation Yosra Elseifi, who is third in the state with 111 goals on the year.  Elseifi is not alone, however, as five other Tigers have 35-or-more goals for the season.  RCC has three keepers they have used throughout the year, with Sofia Mather getting the most work and racking up 13 wins.

Orange Coast enters at just 14-13 overall but played arguably the toughest schedule in the state. Every game the Pirates lost in 3C2A play was to a team ranked in the top seven in the state, including 11 losses against teams ranked in the top four in the latest state rankings. Orange Coast went 4-1 in OEC play to earn the No. 2 seed, with the lone loss coming against Riverside City.  The Pirates have a balanced attack, with four players scoring 25-or-more goals for the year.  Emma Willis leads the pack with 31 goals.  Emily Jones has been the workhorse in goal for the Pirates, playing in 21 games.

Saddleback enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed and the Bobcats enter the tournament at 17-10 overall and 3-2 in OEC play.  Saddleback played gamely in a recent tournament, falling to No. 4 Sierra College (12-7) and No. 1 Long Beach City College (12-9).  The Bobcats have the leading scorer in the state in Holliss Munchoff, who has 118 goals in 26 games.  Abigail Wallace has played 26 games in goal for the Bobcats.

Fullerton enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed after finishing in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference.  The Hornets (8-21) are led by Macayle Franco, who enters the tournament with 57 goals in 26 games.  Brisela Robinson has received the bulk of the work in goal for the Hornets, playing in 23 games this season.

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

(Brad Hoiseth, Saddleback)