WHITTIER, Calif. - The No. 3 Whittier College
men's water polo team outscored No. 1 Redlands 5-2 in the second
half en route to an 11-8 win on Saturday afternoon at the Lillian
Slade Aquatics Center in front of a crowd of nearly 300.
The Poets' (11-9, 3-0 SCIAC) defense held the Bulldogs to a
single goal in each the third and fourth quarters. Redlands entered
the game with a 10.16 goals per game average.
Whittier trailed early as the Bulldogs tallied two of the first
three goals. The Poets tied the game at 2-2with 1:54 to play and UR
never saw the lead again. WC tacked on two more scores in the final
1:13 of the first quarter to lead 4-2 after one.
Rilesh Desai registered the first goal of the
afternoon for the purple and gold, Jordan Van
Norman tied the game and Wes Paulson
added the final two goals of the quarter to give the Poets the
lead.
WC built its lead to 5-2 with 6:38 to play in the half on Van
Norman's second of his team-high three goals. Redlands scored four
of the final five goals of the half to even the score at six at the
intermission.
Casey Regehr made five saves in the first half.
The game turned into a defensive battled in the third quarter
but Whittier broke through with the go-ahead goal at the 3:11 mark.
Brandon Babot converted the extra man opportunity
to put the Poets up 7-6.
Redlands quickly drew an ejection nearly a minute later and was
able to find the back of the cage to even the score for the last
time of the afternoon. The Poets killed the extra man opportunity
but UR scored just as the release was issued.
Whittier opened the fourth quarter on a 4-0 run to put the game
out of reach at 11-7. Alex Perry scored from
outside to put WC up 8-7 at the 7:24 mark, Robert
Nihei game Whittier a two-goal advantage at 4:51,
Will Jackson rattled the cage at 2:07 and Van
Norman provided the icing on the cake with the final Poets score
with just 26 seconds left.
Redlands scored the final goal of the game with just 16 seconds
on the clock.
Regehr made 13 saves for the game which includes one at five
meters in the third quarter. He and Perry led the team with three
steals.
Whittier totaled eight goal scorers for the afternoon.
The Poets return to action on Wednesday, October 28, as they
travel to Pasadena, Calif., to face Caltech.
