OCC men’s water polo: Bucs split at Citrus Tourney

GLENDORA - Orange Coast College’s men’s water polo team split its

first-round matches Friday at the Citrus Tournament, falling to the host

Owls 10-8 and then beating Long Beach City 12-9.

Citrus, ranked No. 4 in the state, jumped out to a 6-2 halftime lead.

The Pirates (7-6, 2-1 in the Orange Empire Conference) fought back,

outscoring the Owls 3-2 in both the third and fourth quarters, but

couldn’t pull off the upset.

“We definitely had our chances and could have won,” OCC Coach Jason

Gall said. “Unfortunately, we came out flat and fell behind early.”

Chris Lancellotti scored three goals for the Pirates, while Michael

Vaillancourt and Jeffrey Pratt had two.

In the second match, Coast took off to a 7-4 halftime lead on the way

to a 12-9 win over Long Beach. The Pirates led 6-2 after the first

quarter and 8-4 at halftime. Lancellotti had four goals, Pratt finished

with three and Jeffery Sample scored twice.

OCC will face Ventura today at 9:50 a.m. And the Pirates will play

another team later in the day depending on the outcome of various games.

CITRUS TOURNAMENT

Citrus 10, OCC 8

OCC 1 1 3 3 - 8

Citrus 4 3 2 3 - 12

OCC - Lancellotti 3, Vaillancourt 2, Pratt 2, Gorham 1.

OCC 12, Long Beach City 9

LBC 1 3 3 2 - 9

OCC 4 3 2 3 - 12

OCC - Lancellotti 4, Pratt 3, Sample 2, Dugger 1, Gorham 1,

Vaillancourt 1.