Men’s Water Polo: Roadrunners edge El Camino 15-13 for first SCC win

TORRANCE – Jaime Albarran and Chris Bonilla scored four goals each to help lead Rio Hondo College to a 15-13 South Coast Conference win at El Camino College on Wednesday.

It was the Roadrunners' first conference win of the season as they improved to 1-2 and 3-8 overall this season.

Rio Hondo led early and had to hold off a late surge by the Warriors.

Albarran scored two of his four goals in the first quarter, opening the scoring and closing out the period with a goal to send the Roadrunners into the break with a 4-1 lead.

El Camino outscored Rio Hondo 3-2 in the second quarter and the Roadrunners went into halftime with a narrow 6-4 lead.

The Warriors continued the offensive pressure in the third. Rio Hondo got goals from Alexander Duenez and David Gutierrez but El Camino scored four time in the period to tie up the contest at 8-8 heading into the final quarter.

The fourth turned into a shootout as the two teams combined for 12 goals.

Aaron Ayala's goal at the 7:22 mark would prove to be the game-winner for the Roadrunners as they would not surrender the lead for the rest of the contest. Albarran's final goal of the game extended the Rio Hondo lead to 15-11 with 2:25 to play.

But El Camino didn't quit. They added a pair of goals to make things interesting but Rio Hondo was able to run out the clock to hang on for the victory.

Steven Perez totaled 7 saves in goal for Rio Hondo to earn the win.

Rio Hondo returns to action on Friday (Sep. 30) when the Roadrunners will compete at the Cerritos College mini tournament. Rio Hondo is scheduled to face Citrus College and Fullerton College.