The DVC water polo team lost 16-10 in a heated state championship match against Golden West College (GWC) on Saturday, Nov. 17. The game’s physicality led to a fourth quarter brawl in which six players were ejected.

The loss placed the Vikings second in the state, the best finish in DVC water polo history.

“I am regretful because… we were so aggressive and I am disappointed about the fight but after all we played very well the whole season and I think this cannot be a bad thing,” said DVC’s Bora Dimitrov. “We made the best result DVC has ever made in water polo.”

The Vikings defeated Cerritos College in Friday’s tournament grudge game to determine who would go to the state championships with GWC taking a Friday victory away from West Valley College to advance to the finals.
DVC’s had a mere four regular season losses, one against Cerritos and three against the state champion GWC Rustlers.

“We were ready to play we just made a few mistakes and then we had to play catch-up and this team was too good to do that,” said DVC head coach, John Roemer. “We had a lot of kick outs, which is good for us. We got them kicked out almost over a dozen times and we didn’t capitalize on as many of them as we should have. And that’s a credit to them; they were an undefeated team this year.”

DVC won the first possession of the championship match and quickly capitalized. A quick pass from DVC’s Raz Yuval led to a Bora Dimitrov goal within the first 25 seconds, the only DVC lead of the game.

However, the ensuing possessions would set the tone for the game. GWC responded immediately with a goal of its own only 20 seconds later and after a foul sent the ball back to GWC, the visiting Rustlers were able to score again.

Dimitrov spoke on DVC’s pre-game strategy to combat the aggressive Rustlers, “Before the game coach (Roemer) told us we need to stop their counter attack and their whole set. We did that, but unfortunately they had a lucky day and scored from the perimeter.”

GWC went on to score three more goals as part of their 5-0 run making the score, 5-1. The first quarter ended 6-3 in favor of the Rustlers.

DVC penalties and aggressive GWC defense led to a 3-1 second quarter in favor of GWC, taking a lead of 9-4.

The third quarter started hopeful for the Vikings with DVC’s Ori Raz stealing the ball from a GWC player only to turn the ball over on a 30-second shot clock violation. However, DVC would still be the first to strike with a Peter Djurakovic goal to make it 9-5. After three GWC goals, Djurakovic followed with another goal of his own, the only two DVC scores of the quarter.

With the score at 13-6 entering the final quarter, tensions were high. Fans and players alike on either side of the contest voiced frustration at the lack of fouls called by the refs on several particularly aggressive plays.

DVC’s Ori Raz was ejected after reaching the foul limit and shortly after, the GWC coach was given a yellow card. Both sides traded scores after the card was issued making it 14-7.

With 5:31 left in the fourth quarter, fighting broke out after a goal by Dimitrov made it 14-8. Dimitrov scored with GWC center, Ricardo Guimaraes closely guarding him. After the goal, Guimaraes, who had complained of an ear injury earlier in the game, punched Dimitrov in the head. Dimitrov swung back and soon the GWC goalie and two other players went after Dimitrov who was soon aided by his teammates in what turned into an almost entire team brawl.

After the two teams were broken up, the game was delayed while referees decided on ejections and Contra Costa Community College Police officers tried to straighten out what had happened.

When all was said and done, ejections were given to DVC’s Dimitrov, Federico Epis, and Roman Novak while GWC also lost Guimaraes, Nate Sfreddo, and Derek Iglesias for the rest of the game.

“After my goal, the guy just came right behind me and punched me in the face, so I reacted a little bit aggressive and I tried to get back at him, and after that, four of them surrounded me and the guys from my team came to help me,” said Dimitrov.

The fourth quarter was the only one in which DVC outscored the visiting Rustlers (4-3), but it was not enough to close the deficit. DVC lost 16-10, but closed out the 2012 season with a better finish than any previous year.