Men's Water Polo Move On To State Finals
Golden West Men's Water Polo advance to the state finals after defeating the No. 1 seed in the North, West Valley, 7-6.
Riverside, Calif. - Golden West Men's Water Polo advance to the state finals after defeating the No. 1 seed in the North, West Valley, 7-6. The Rustlers have made it to this game 14 times in the past 15 years, and look to win a three-peat of the State title. The program's record speaks for itself, with an unprecedented 22 state Championships, and Team November has it's sights set on the 23rd.
Their game leading up to the championship play-off was led in scoring by Derek Iglesias, who netted in the first and fourth quarter. The game started with The Rustlers up 3-1 in the first, with goals by Fletcher Norseen, Laszlo Nagy and Iglesias.
Golden West saw their lead increase to 4 with a cross cage shot by Ari Marks, giving the Rustlers a 4-2 advantage going into the half. Tommy Grall found the back of the net at the start of the third, with Sean Grab capitalizing while the Rustlers were a man up.
Going into the fourth quarter, West Valley was down 2, but narrowed Golden West's lead when the Vikings got a shot past Itai Cohen in the Rustler goal. Iglesias responded with another goal with 5:25 left in the game. West Valley scored again reduced the Rustlers' lead to 1, but a clutch steal from Grab in the last 30 seconds secured the win for Golden West.
The Rustlers will play in the Championship game, Saturday, Nov. 23rd against Long Beach at 12:00pm at Riverside City College.