For the sixth time in seven years, West Valley is the NorCal men's water polo champion. The top-seeded Vikings needed everything in their arsenal to dispatch the 2nd-seeded Beavers 10-6 in the title tilt at frigid Las Positas College Saturday night. WVC earned the No. 1 NorCal seed and will be accompanied by No. 2 American River, No. 3 Sierra and No. 4 Diablo Valley as north representatives at this weekend's 3C2A Men's Championships at Long Beach City College.
The Vikings (28-5) may have set the unofficial championship record for bar-outs as they consistently hit metal instead of twine throughout. But, in the end, the Vikings outscored the Beavers (22-9) in every quarter but a 2-2 third.
ARC's Mateo Ruano put the Beavers on the board first with a power-play goal at 3:44, but Taine Pickering countered with a 6-on-5 goal 15 seconds later. Berkecan Yalcin blasted in an even-strength tally a minute later and the opening quarter ended 2-1, WVC.
Ethan MacLeod's two goals bookended Ruano's second goal of the game to give WVC a 4-2 advantage at 4:59 of the second. Cayden Pitzer converted a five-meter to help ARC close to within 4-3 at 2:44, but unanswered goals from Phil Portisch and Yalcin gave the Vikings a 6-3 lead at the break. The 2-2 third quarter made it 8-5, Vikings, heading to the final eight minutes. Caden Rutan lasered in a power-play shot and it was 8-6 with 4:05 to play, but Portisch scored at 3:44 and then MacLeod canned a 6-on-5 with 2:17 left to give WVC a 10-6 lead they would not surrender.
Yalcin and MacLeod led WVC with three goals apiece, followed by two each from Pickering and Portisch. Viking keeper William McKeon, who was named the tourney MVP, stopped six ARC shots.
The Vikings punished NorCal No. 4 Diablo Valley (15-18) 26-4 in Saturday morning's semifinal. A 6-2 first quarter WVC lead exploded to 16-2 at halftime, thanks to two-goal second quarters from Mateja Cetkovic, Zalan Hegedus, Sy Lazzaroni and Yalcin. Pickering's third period hat trick helped West Valley extend its advantage to 23-3 heading into the final stanza.
Pickering paced the WVC scorebook with four goals, while MacLeod, Portisch and Danny Rendon added three each. Tristan Grimett and Bronson Chungson joined Cetkovic, Hegedus, Lazzaroni and Yalcin with two talles apiece. Keeper McKeon, Hegedus and Portisch each corralled three of WVC's 20 steals. McKeon finished with 12 saves.
The 3C2A Men's Water Polo State Championship is Nov. 21-23 at Long Beach City College. Visit the 3C2A website for complete tournament information: