Water polo: OCC’s teams heading south

MISSION VIEJO - Saddleback College will be the site of the upcoming

Orange Empire Conference men’s and women’s water polo championship

tournaments today and Saturday at the Gauchos’ pool.

Orange Coast College is the top-ranked team in both tournaments,

followed by Riverside, Saddleback and Cypress.

The men’s tournament bracket will have the Pirates (21-6-2, 3-0 in

OEC) take on Cypress (10-17, 0-3) at 1 p.m. today, while Riverside

(19-10-2, 2-1) takes on Saddleback (11-14-1, 1-2) at 2:15 p.m.

The third-place contest between the two losers of the above games will

play Saturday at 11 a.m. while the championship between the two winning

schools will be played at 1:30 p.m.

The women’s tournament will shadow the men’s bracket at OCC (20-5,

3-0) will take on Cypress (10-10, 0-3) today at 3:30 p.m. while Riverside

(26-4-1, 2-1) will battle Saddleback (16-9, 1-2) at 4:45 p.m.

Saturday’s third-place game will take place at 12:15 p.m. and the

championship game will be played at 2:45 p.m.

Orange Coast men’s team is currently ranked third in the state with

Riverside ranked fifth and Saddleback 12th.

On the women’s side, the Pirates are ranked second in the state,

behind Golden West, while Riverside is ranked third and Saddleback

eighth.

The conference tournament champion receives an automatic berth into

the 12-team Southern California regional playoffs which are set to begin

Nov. 12-13 at Mt. San Antonio College.