Men’s Water Polo: Vikings bring home third place from state championships

The Long Beach City College men's water polo team capped another impressive season with a third-place finish at the 2010 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Water Polo State Championships at American River College in Sacramento. Under coaches Chris Oeding and Dave Kasa, the Vikings made their eighth trip in 10 years to the state championships.

On Saturday, Long Beach, the South's No. 2 seed, defeated North No. 2 Diablo Valley College 15-11 in the third place game to close the season with a 22-9 overall record.

LBCC opened the contest with a pair of goals, only to have DVC come back with four unanswered goals. The Vikings trailed 4-2 after the first quarter, but scored two in the second and held DVC scoreless to go in to the break tied at four.

But Long Beach blew the game open with 11 goals in the second half. Eric Doyle had two of LBCC's five goals in the third quarter to help lead the Vikings' charge.

Sophomore Janko Jovanovic and freshmen Tristan Winterhalter and Doyle all scored four goals each to lead the Vikings. Freshman Vince Ward posted seven saves in goal.

On Friday, Long Beach suffered a 13-6 loss to North No. 1 and eventual state champion West Valley College.  LBCC trailed just 5-4 after the first half before West Valley went on to outscore the Vikings 8-2 over the third and fourth quarters.  

Doyle and Jovanovic led LBCC with two goals each. Ward totaled five saves in the loss.

Jovanovic was also named to the All-State Tournament team.