Bobcats claw out 2-2 finish at GWI

The Saddleback men's water polo team finished 2-2 at the prestigious Golden West College Invitational on Saturday in Huntington Beach.  The Bobcats pulled out an exciting win in the final game of the tournament to help their regional standing.

The Golden West Invitational featured arguably the top four teams from the Southern California ranks, which is a good barometer when the playoff seeds are determined in a couple of weeks.  Saddleback finished 2-2, but pulled off a big win in the final game when they came from behind to beat Cuesta College, 11-10.

Saddleback opened the tournament with a blowout win over Los Angeles Valley, thumping the Monarchs 15-1.  The Bobcats had an 11-0 lead in the game, with Andrew Barnuevo leading the team with three goals.

Game two was a tight matchup against Long Beach City, another squad looking to improve its seed and the current leaders of the South Coast Conference.  Saddleback trailed 9-5 at the half, but rallied to within one goal before falling to the Vikings, 13-12.  Barnuevo and Jack Stevens both had three goals for the Bobcats in the loss.

Game three was against perennial power Golden West and Saddleback struggled throughout, falling to the Rustlers 21-8.  The Bobcats were playing from behind the entire game and were within 9-5 early in the third quarter before Golden West went on a run to put the game away.  Stevens led the Bobcats with two goals in the game.

The final game against Cuesta was an instant classic.  The two teams were even at 3-3 through one quarter when Cuesta went on a run as Saddleback couldn't find the back of the net.  The Cougars led 7-3 early in the third quarter when the Bobcats started to find their rhythm.  Saddleback scored four times to close out the third quarter in cutting the deficit to 9-7 with eight minutes remaining.  Cuesta led 10-8 with under seven minutes remaining when the Bobcats made their move.  Saddleback scored three straight times, with Stevens (pictured) connecting with 21 seconds remaining to give Saddleback an 11-10 lead.  Bobcat goalkeeper Nathan James then preserved the win with two huge saves in the final seconds as Saddleback snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Saddleback is now 20-5 overall with two games remaining on the regular season schedule.  The Bobcats will travel to Riverside City College on Wednesday to play the Tigers at 3:00 PM.