In yet another intense chapter of a growing rivalry, Whittier College and Occidental College Men's Soccer teams opened their SCIAC schedules against one another at Graham Soccer Field on September 17.  For 77 minutes the teams were even until the Tigers broke through with a pair of second half goals to take the 4-2 victory.

Occidental opened the scoring in the 19^th minute when Poet goalkeeper, Michael Read '10 deflected a cross that landed at the feet of Fran Taylor, who easily placed the ball in the open goal.  The Poets responded quickly, scoring in the 21^st minute when Ronnie Beal '10 beat an Occidental defender and sent in a cross that found Patricio Carregha '12 for a header into the back of the net.  The Poets then took the lead in the 36^th minute on a perfectly struck penalty kick by Tommy Barber '12.  Occidental got their equalizer in the closing moments of the first half from Deryck Lim.

The score remained deadlocked until the 78^th minute, when Taylor gave the Tigers the lead for good.  It was his second goal of the day.  He completed the hat trick and put the game out of reach in the 87^th minute to give Oxy the 4-2 win.

The Poets out shot the Tigers 14-11 in the contest and each team took four corner kicks.  Read made three saves in goal and his counterpart, Oxy's Ian Powell made four saves.

The Poets are on the road for their next contest on September 20.  They travel to Claremont, Calif., for a 11:00am kick-off against SCIAC foe Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.