Whittier College Men's Water Polo continues to pick up momentum heading into SCIAC play after a strong showing at "The Showdown", hosted by Whittier and Chapman University in Orange, Calif., on October 11 and 12.  The Poets finished third in the inaugural year of the tournament, with the only loss coming at the hands of NAIA Cal Baptist University.

The Poets (9-9) battled with Cal Baptist (22-8) for the second time this season to open the tournament.  In their first meeting, the Lancers won 9-6.  Cal Baptist jumped out to an early lead, scoring the game's first five goals.  The Poets added one goal at the tail end of the first quarter, and scored the only goal of the second quarter to trail 5-2 at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, the Lancers extended their lead to five with a pair of goals in a 1:30 span.  Chris Villanueva '09 made is 7-3 with less than a minute remaining in the quarter.  The Poets wouldn't get any closer however, as the Lancer offense exploded for five goals in the fourth quarter while the Poets scored three times on the way to the 12-6 loss.

Chris Hartman '12 led the Poet offense with a pair of goals.  Villanueva and Lincoln Haley '12 finished with one goal and one assist.  Will Jackson '11 and Chet Schuster '12 scored one goal apiece and Wes Paulson '12 was credited with two assists.  Casey Regehr '12 made eight saves in three quarters of play in goal.

In game two of the tournament, the Poets faced another familiar foe in Fresno Pacific University (9-12).  Fresno got the better of the Poets in their first meeting this season, but the Poets would get their revenge.  The Poets fell behind early in this game as well, trailing at the end of one quarter 4-0.  Whittier battled back in the second quarter with three unanswered goals to cut the Sunbird lead to one.  But Fresno ended the half with a pair of goals to take a 6-3 into the halftime break.

Villanueva cut the Poet deficit to two goals midway through the third quarter, but once again Fresno scored back-to-back goals to take an 8-4 advantage.  Haley made the score 8-5 with 1:11 left in the third and that remained the score as the teams entered the final stanza.  Just 19 seconds into the fourth, the Sunbirds appeared to have the game under control with another goal to make the score 9-5.  The Poets did not lie down however, and battled back with five straight goals to close out the game.  Villanueva put away the game-winner with just 21 seconds left in regulation to give the Poets the 10-9 victory.

Villanueva played his strongest game of the tournament with three goals, two in the fourth quarter, and two assists.  Haley led the Poets with six points (three goals, three assists).  Alex Hernandez '12, Cameron Lew '12 and Jackson each tallied a goal and an assist.  Regehr made four saves, including three during the Poets fourth quarter comeback.

The next day, Whittier faced Chaffey College (2-24), a team they beat 11-7 earlier in the season.  The Poets jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before allowing Chaffey back in the game with two goals at the end of the first quarter.  The Panthers pulled ahead 4-3 in the first two minutes of the second frame to cap a 4-0 run.  But once again Villanueva came to the rescue with back-to-back goals to put the Poets up 5-4.  They would not trail again.  Lew scored to make the score 6-4 and Chaffey answered with one goal of their own before the halftime whistle to make the score 6-5.

In the second half, the Poets put their offense into overdrive.  After trading goals with the Panthers to make the score 7-6, the Poets went on a 5-0 run to end the third quarter.  The run continued into the fourth quarter where the Poets tacked on five more for the 17-6 win.

Tyler Aisner '12 paced the offense with four goals and an assist.  Villanueva, Jackson and Hernandez all recorded hat tricks and added assists.  Jonathan Pony '12 scored twice and Lew was credited with a goal and two assists.  Derick Herberholz '12 finished with a goal and an assist.  Regehr made eight saves in goal and helped out the offense with two assists.  Matt Villanueva '12 made five saves in the fourth quarter and also had a pair of assists.

With group play over, the Poets went on to the third place game versus SoCal rival, Division III #5 Chapman University (13-6).  Chapman started out with two goals in the first 1:30 of the game.  The Poets got their first goal at the 3:15 mark of the first quarter to cut the lead in half from Jackson.  The Poets got their equalizer midway through the second quarter thanks to Hernandez.  Chapman regained the lead at the three-minute mark and would take that lead into halftime, 3-2.

The third quarter belonged to the Poets, as they tallied three goals and gave up zero.  They took a 5-3 lead with just eight minutes left in regulation.  It took just 24 seconds in the fourth quarter for the Panthers to get within one goal.  But the Poet defense stayed strong and the offense added an insurance goal with 3:26 left.  That would be the final goal of the game and the Poets would take third place by a score of 6-4.

Villanueva and Jackson each finished with two goals and an assist.  Hernandez also scored twice and Lew was credited with a pair of assists.  Regehr made nine saves and had two steals to lead the Poet defense.

The Poets begin SCIAC play on October 18 when Caltech visits the Slade Aquatics Center.  Game-time is scheduled for 11:00am and can be heard on the web on www.sportsnetusa.net.