SANTA ANA - In what appeared to be a close affair in the early stages, the Dons fell to Riverside City College 19-8 in the Orange Empire Conference opener after the visiting Tigers pulled away in the second half.
After Riverside opened the game with a pair of goals, the Dons answered with their first goal of the game, scored by Nick Beavers. Riverside then went up 3-1 before Beavers scored again followed by a Micah Mathis goal that tied the match 3-3 after the first quarter.
Riverside outscored the Dons 5-2 in the second quarter with SAC's goals coming from Nicholas Todd and Beavers. At the time, Beavers' goal tied the game at 5-5 before the Tigers scored three-straight to take an 8-5 lead into the half.
From there, it was all Riverside as the Tigers scored three goals in the third and seven goals in the fourth to take the match 19-8. The Dons got one goal in the third quarter, scored by Duncan Wilson, before adding three more in the fourth. Wilson scored his second goal of the game before Beavers added two more to cap off the Dons scoring.
Beavers finished the game with five goals for the Dons followed by Wilson with two while Wes Kobel made 21 saves in goal for SAC.