Photo by: Tony Leon/Action West Photography

WHITTIER, Calif. - The miraculous turnaround that was the Whittier College men's soccer season came to an end on Wednesday evening as the No. 3 seeded Redlands Bulldogs scored in the 95th minute to claim a 2-1 decision over the No. 2 seeded Poets in the semifinals of the 2009 SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

Whittier (9-5-4) finished the regular season second in the highly competitive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, just one season after it won only two games in conference.

The first two meetings between WC and Redlands (10-6-4) mirrored the third game as all three contests went into overtime. Redlands' Will Kelly scored the game winner from Jeff Willey on a deflected ball that snuck past a diving Michael Read at 94:14.

Read made three saves on the evening and finished the year with an 8-2-2 record.

The Poets forced overtime in the waning minutes of the game on Srdan Jovanovic's team leading ninth goal of the season. Patricio Carregha played a ball into the box and Sam Russell's header found the feet of Jovanovic who placed the ball just inside the far post. The goal came in the 89th minute.

Whittier had numerous opportunities to put points on the board but the Bulldogs' Evan Hobson stopped eight of WC's nine shots on goal. Hobson made saves on Joshua Dredge and Shea Harwell on consecutive shots from just outside the goal box at 62:12 and 62:18, respectively.

In the 70th minute Carregha got his header over the arms of Hobson but the ball landed just high of the target.

In the first half Adolfo Santos crossed the ball to the far post where Joseph Gelaro's shot sailed over the goal.

For the game the Poets outshot the Bulldogs 18-13 and put three more shots on goal at 9-6. The physical game totaled a combined 15 fouls and two yellow cards.

Redlands tallied the first goal of the game at 20:40 on a cross from Will Kelly to Danny Connors.

The loss snaps Whittier's 11-game unbeaten streak. WC's last loss came on September 23 to La Verne.

In the other semifinal game Pomona Pitzer, the No. 1 seed, was upset by fourth seeded Claremont-M-S, 2-0. The championship game and the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament will be played at Redlands on Saturday.