Golden West enjoys déjà vu again for the ninth consecutive year

Tournament Central l Photos

MERCED - Further cementing themselves as the most dominant program in the history of California community college men's water polo, Golden West swam away from Orange Coast 14-6 for their ninth consecutive 3C2A State Championship on Saturday at Merced College. It is the second nine-title streak for the Rustlers (1989-2002), whose current run began in 2016, and represents their 33^rd overall championship.

For many observers, the title was a foregone conclusion, as GWC was 31-0 against 3C2A opponents in 2025. Saturday's win was the Rustlers' sixth of the year against Orange Empire Conference rival Orange Coast and 45^th straight against 3C2A squads.

Golden West coach Scott Taylor was a happy mentor after enjoying the traditional celebratory post-game dunk in the pool.

"We had a target on our backs the entire season," Taylor said. "This group, especially the new guys, bought into our culture and worked really hard every day. They had a great attitude from the start of the season until the end. They earned this one and I'm really proud of them."

Golden West can beat a team a number of different ways, but it all comes down to an explosive, sharp-shooting offense, a relentless defense and superior goalkeeping. Those attributes were on full display Saturday morning.

Wyatt Mitchell put GWC (37-2) on the board first with a power play goal just 33 seconds in. Michael Rodgers, Ryder Tonkovich and Joao Goncalves added first-quarter goals to answer one from OCC's Cade Zeilinger, as the Rustlers led 4-1 after one.

Goncalves would add two more goals to open the second, giving him three straight. GWC's Mano Molnar and Rodgers scored to counter one from Dylan Morris to increase the Rustler lead to 8-2 at the break. Golden West outscored Orange Coast (28-11) 5-4 in the second half to secure the eight-goal victory.

While his field players were exemplary, Taylor was effusive in his praise of his goalkeeper, Boston Frost.

"He is the heart and soul of our team," Taylor said of his sophomore keeper. "He puts in a lot of work and is the anchor of our defense."

Rodgers scored once in each quarter to lead the GWC stat sheet. Goncalves and Molnar added hat tricks, while Mitchell found the back of the cage twice. Zeilinger closed out a stellar 3C2A career with a pair of tallies, as did McCormick.

Taylor had nothing but praise for OCC coach Dan Matulis and his Orange Empire Conference rivals.

"We have a tough conference, and we really respect Dan and his program."" Taylor said. "They do a great job and played really hard today."

Third place game: (S 3) Long Beach City over (N1) West Valley 13-12
Saturday's "Battle of the Vikings" third-place contest was an exclusion-filled slugfest that wasn't decided until the very end. Both teams had title aspirations that ended in bitter disappointment Friday.

Twenty-five kick-outs and a pair of penalties were called in the game, resulting in nine goals for LBCC, while WVC went 3-15 on 6-on-5 chances, clearly the difference in the game.

LBCC's Frederico Gulisano outscored WVC 3-1 himself in the opening quarter. Peter Kohari scored twice for West Valley in the second, which ended with LBCC on top 6-4.

Ivan Cubelic's two third-quarter tallies for LBCC (26-8) countered a pair from WVC's Yonatan Yoffenbratel Nadler and lifted Long Beach to a 10-7 lead heading to the fourth.

West Valley (31-5) rallied to outscore Long Beach 5-3 in the final stanza. Peter Kohari scored back-to-back goals that brought WVC to within 12-10 with 2:01 remaining, and Vittorio Sarra made it 12-11 with a power play goal at 1:37. Gulisano gave LBCC a two-goal advantage at 1:21, but WVC's Makar Salnikov hit the back of the cage at :45 to make it 13-12. West Valley was unable to tie it up after regaining possession with :14 to go.

Super-freshman Gulisano led LBCC with five goals, followed by Cubelic's four. Kohari paced West Valley with five of his own, while Yoffenbratel Nadler added three.

(Matt Folsom, CCCSIA)