Golden West Looking for 36 Straight

The water polo season is nearing the halfway point and conference play kicked into action this past week. Golden West looks like the favorite to repeat as Orange Empire Conference (OEC) champions with inter-district rival Orange Coast looking like its main threat.

Golden West is looking for a 36th straight conference title. In the history of men's water polo in the OEC, no other program has ever won an outright conference championship since Golden West joined the conference.

Golden West is off to a 13-1 start this season, with the lone loss coming against Long Beach State University. The closest battled thus far in 2025 from programs in the 3C2A have come from West Valley College (10-9) and Cypress College (14-11) as the Rustlers look for a ninth straight 3C2A state championship.

In the water, Golden West has a good mix of sophomores and freshmen. The Rustlers have a number of guys that can put it in the back of the net, with Michael Rodgers (21 goals) and Joao Goncalves (15 goals) leading the way. Boston Frost and Gael Lemus provide a 1-2 punch in goal for a team that has given up only 97 goals in 13 games against community colleges.

Orange Coast looks like teams that could contend. Orange Coast lost to Golden West (4-12) early in the season at the Golden West Invitational but has had a nice start to the season. The Pirates are 11-3 overall, with two of the losses coming against four-year programs. Orange Coast has a number of solid scoring options, including Cade Zeilinger (22 goals), Jack McCann (17 goals), Sawyer McCormick (17 goals) and AJ Sexton (16 goals).

Cypress had a nice showing against Golden West in the conference opener last week when they fell to the Rustlers, 14-11. At 6-5, Cypress played gamely against Orange Coast in a 16-13 loss in a tournament and had a couple of nice wins in the pre-conference schedule on their resume. Wes Brazda leads the team with 30 for the season while Matthew Arauz has scored 22 of his own.

Saddleback and Riverside City are both 3-5 overall heading into conference play and were set to play in Orange Empire Conference play last week before the game was postponed due to issues with the RCC pool. The two programs have rescheduled for late October at Saddleback.

Saddleback has had a mixed bag of results against tough competition so far. The Bobcats have faced four of the top six teams in the state rankings and played gamely in a loss to No. 4 Cuesta (12-14). Jayden Rose leads the squad with 24 goals in eight games.

Riverside City has played a similar schedule to Saddleback, facing five of the top nine teams in the rankings in its first eight games. RCC has a great scoring combo in Luke Bills (32 goals) and Yanti Quijada (20 goals), who have scored 50 of the teams 84 goals for the year.

Fullerton is 2-9 out of the gate, with three of the losses coming against four-year schools. The Hornets are led by Michael Rousselo, who is one of the top scorers in the state with 42 goals in 11 games.

Story by Brad Hoiseth, Saddleback College