Cuesta Men's Water Polo spent Friday and most of Saturday in Walnut, California at the Mt San Antonio Tournament.  The split their games on Friday with a win over Saddleback, 14-12, and a narrow loss to the host Mounties, 11-10.  On Saturday, the Cougars ran through their opponents in a pair of morning games, before heading home to host a barnstorming team from Shanghai, China.  Cuesta took care of Palomar, 15-10, and Cypress, 17-10, to close the tournament and packed up for the four-hour ride home.  The team from Shanghai has spent this month playing collegiate and club teams in Northern California and reached out to the Cougars about getting on their schedule.  The Cougars were accommodating; despite knowing they would arrive home to play game with two games and 200-plus miles under their belt for the day. In front of a large home crowd" scored first against their international foes, when All American Johnny Starr netted a goal off a pass from 2025 Cuesta Athlete of the year Grant Huston for their only lead of the game.  The team from the "Middle Kingdom" scored three goals of their own, before Dustin Drobeck posted back-to-back Cuesta goals to close the gap, 4-3, but Shanghai scored twice more before the end of the first quarter and took control of the game.  Shanghai outscored the Cougars, 7-1, in the second quarter and rolled to victory, 25-8.  The loss dropped Cuesta Men's Water Polo to an overall record of 7-4 on the season.  

The Cougars are set to host their Cuesta I Tournament next Friday and Saturday.  The Cougars open with Long Beach (1:50) and Golden West (5:20) on Friday, before squaring-off with Orange Coast (8:40) and American River (3:40) on Saturday.  Tournament Bracket

Photo Courtesy of Rick Wilson