Yippee-Kai-Yay

The Saddleback men's water polo team opened Orange Empire Conference play with an 11-8 victory over Cypress College on Wednesday afternoon at the Saddleback Aquatics Center.  Kai Totaro led the team in goals.

Saddleback was playing its first Orange Empire Conference (OEC) game of the year after the original opener against Riverside City last week was postponed due to issues with the RCC pool.  The Bobcats were anxious to get back in the water and did not disappoint, never trailing in the game.

Saddleback took a 4-2 after the opening quarter, with Jayden Rose scoring a pair of goals and goalkeeper Septime de Bonnafos making a number of big saves.  The Bobcats would increase the lead to 6-3 at the intermission after Kai Totaro scored his second goal of the game with 3:10 remaining in the half to close out the first-half scoring.

Totaro scored two more times in the third quarter, opening the scoring in the third quarter when he put one in the back of the net with 7:13 remaining in the frame.  The Bobcats would finish the quarter up 8-6 on the scoreboard.

Cypress cut the lead to one with 5:48 remaining when Victor Abella scored his first goal of the game.  The Bobcats responded with three straight goals to stretch the lead back to 11-7 in the final minute, thus ending any chance of a Charger comeback.

Saddleback is now 4-5 overall and 1-0 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats will host a tournament this Friday and Saturday.  Saddleback opens the tournament against Southwestern College at 7:00 AM on Friday.