TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College ran out of time Wednesday in a 15-13 South Coast Conference loss to No. 8 Cerritos at the ECC Aquatics Center.
Marc Bugarin, Zane Johnson and Heitor Trefilio led the offense for the Warriors with three goals apiece and the trio combined for seven assists with Bugarin leading the team with three helpers. Robbie Josic, Max Hale and Scott Fujiwara also scored for ECC. Vios Lopez made six saves in the cage.
Jacob Colon led the Falcons with five goals with Declan Nelson, Tim Robles and Johan Gaytan adding three goals apiece with Diego Campos making eight saves in the cage for his ninth win.
The two teams were evenly matched throughout the first half as no team was able to obtain a multi-goal lead in the first 16 minutes of action which saw the teams tied 7-7 at the break. The teams were tied seven times and traded the lead twice in the first half.
The third quarter proved pivotal as the Falcons scored three straight goals to close out the period including Nelson's third goal of the day with just one second left on the clock to make it 12-9.
The Falcons opened the scoring in the fourth to make it a four-goal lead which they maintained until the 3:30 mark when Trefilio notched his final goal of the day to make it 15-12.
The Warriors would keep the Falcons off the scoreboard the rest of the way and Josic's power-play goal with 2:28 left made it a two-goal deficit.
But ECC came up empty on their next possession and then an exclusion foul to Brayden Sanchez with 1:00 left allowed the Falcons to essentially kill half the clock, dumping it back to the Warriors with 30 seconds left.
The Warriors pulled Lopez and inserted Fujiwara at goalie to become a sixth attacker but his shot out of an ECC timeout missed. The rebound did bounce back to the Warriors but their second opportunity was stuffed and the Falcons ran out the clock to secure the win.
The Warriors will now have eight days off until their next match, a home contest against San Joaquin Delta on Oct. 17 at the ECC Aquatics Center.
