Poets drop SCIAC matchup to Athena’s; Fall late to Azusa Pacific
Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team dropped back to back games to SCIAC foe Claremont-M-S on the road and NAIA opponent Azusa Pacific in the confines of the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center dropping their third straight.
Whittier now drops to 12-16, 1-4 SCIAC and returns to SCIAC competition when they travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif. to take on the Regals of Cal Lutheran University on Wednesday, April 18 beginning at 5pm.
Game 1 (Claremont-M-S; L, 14-9)
Whittier got down early in the first quarter but stayed in attacking range but saw the Athena's pull away in the second quarter and in the third and when they enetered the fourth the eight goal deficit was to much to overcome as they lost 14-9.
Full game recap and scoring to follow at a later time.
Game 2 (Azusa Pacific; L, 10-6)
Azusa who was coming off of tough one goal loss to Pomona-Pitzer a couple days ago found themselves in a fight with the Poets Saturday afternoon. They jumped out in front 2-0 with goals at the 7:26 and 5:53 marks but saw Whittier's Katrina Thoreson capitalize off of an exclusion with 1:33 to go in the first to cut the Azusa Pacific lead in half.
A little more than a minute into the second quarter freshman Samantha Pudwill connected on her first goal knotting the game up at 2-2. But Azusa answered with back to back goals and tough defense to pull ahead by two once more.
Whittier didn't go away however and pulled within one once again with a goal from Pudwill with 1:52 left in the half to put the score at 4-3 going into the break. Coming out of intermission Whittier again replied quickly and tied the game up at 4-4 thanks to a Thoreson goal but this would be as close as they would get as Azusa Pacific rattled off three straight goals to push the score to 7-4 heading into the final frame.
The Poets had a good opportunity to tie the game up at 5-5 and put the momentum in their favor after two exclusions put Azusa down two players but Whittier's Laurel Pinkley's ensuing shot hit the cross bar and spoiled the golden opportunity.
Heading into the final frame Whittier continued to get good looks early and added a quick goal at the 6:40 mark from Pudwill once more but saw Azusa add two more goals that pushed the lead to 10-5. In the final three minutes of play Whittier was able to find an opening in the center position as Pinkley connected on her first goal of the contest that pulled the Poets within four but it was a little too late as the Azusa defense picked up their intensity and pressure stopping Whittier's offensive attack to preserve the four goal victory.
