Valley Claims Third Straight WSC Title

The LA Valley College Men's Water Polo team won it's third straight WSC title. Photo Courtesy of LAVC.edu/Athletics
The LA Valley College Men's Water Polo team won it's third straight WSC title. Photo Courtesy of LAVC.edu/Athletics

The Los Angeles Valley College Men's Water Polo team claimed their third straight Western State Conference Championship recently. The Monarchs entered the 2016 WSC Water Polo Championship Tournament as the #4 seed, but exited as the conference champs for the third time in three years.

The Monarchs opened the weekend up against #5 seed Santa Monica, who they defeated 18-2. After that, LA Valley moved into the semi-finals where they met #1 seeded Cuesta College. Cuesta would jump out to a 4-2 lead at the half, but the Monarchs rallied in the third quarter with four unanswered goals to run out in front 6-4.The two teams would trade goals in the fourth, but the Monarchs held on for a 4-3 victory.

In the final against #2 Citrus, Valley had a similar experience. The Owls led 5-3 after the first quarter, while the Monarch defense stepped it up a notch in the shutting down the Citrus offense to tie the game up at 5-5 by the time halftime rolled around. In the third, the Monarchs kept momentum firmly on their side outscoring the Owls 4-2 to take a 9-7 lead in the final eight minutes. In the fourth, both teams managed a pair of scores, and Valley went on to win 11-9.