THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The No. 3 Whittier College men's water polo team had nine different goal scorers on Saturday afternoon as the Poets defeated No. 8 Cal Lutheran, 12-6, in the teams' Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener.

The Poets (9-9, 1-0 SCIAC) held a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and exploded for five goals in the second frame to take a 7-1 lead into halftime.

Jordan Van Norman, Alex Perry and Robert Nihei all scored two goals while Rilesh Desai, Cameron Lew, Brandon Babot, Will Jackson, Lincoln Haley and Wes Paulson chipped in with one goal apiece.

The Poets were outscored 5-4 in the second half but the second quarter proved to be too much for the Kingsmen to overcome.

Whittier ended the game with two goals in the third and fourth quarter.

Casey Regehr totaled 18 saves for the game which includes seven in the third quarter.

Babot, Perry and Nihei combined for seven assists. As a team the Poets had assists on 11 of their 12 goals.

Whittier returns to the water on Wednesday, October 21, as it hosts La Verne at 4 pm in one of only three games in the Lillian Slade Aquatics Center this season.