ORANGE, Calif. - The No. 1 ranked Whittier
College men's water polo team completed its 2009 regular season on
Sunday afternoon with a pair of games at Chapman University. In the
first game of the day the Poets dropped a 15-11 decision to
nationally ranked Santa Clara but rebounded with a 10-8 win over
Division III No. 5 Chapman in the night cap.
The Poets (17-11) held strong with No. 14 Santa Clara and had
the game tied 5-5 with 1:39 left until halftime but Santa Clara
scored six straight goals to open up the game. WC ended its scoring
drought with a goal at the 1:33 mark of the third quarter.
Whittier got as close as three goals at 12-9 with 5:26 left in
the game but Santa Clara needed only 20 seconds to stretch its lead
back to four goals. The teams traded goals over the final four
minutes.
Rilesh Desai added to his team leading total in
assists with five and added one drawn ejection and one steal.
Alex Perry led all Whittier goal scorers with
three goals while Uriel Villa and Wes
Paulson each added two goals.
Casey Regehr made 16 saves which includes two
in man down situations.
The Poets trailed 6-5 at halftime.
In the second game of the day the Poets found themselves in an
early 3-0 deficit but a three goal first quarter effort by Villa
helped the purple and gold tie the score at 4-4 after one.
The Panthers led 7-6 at halftime and stretched its lead to 8-6
with 4:20 to play in the third but the Poets scored the final four
goals of the game en route to the win.
Perry pulled the Poets within one at 3:34 of the third and Desai
found the equalizer and the eventual game winner in the closing
minutes of the third frame.
Villa tacked on an insurance goal early in the fourth quarter
and Regehr held Chapman scoreless over the final 11:26 of the game
to preserve the win.
Villa led the team with five goals and added two steals while
Desai pitched in with four assists and four goals. Regehr totaled
11 second half saves, 18 for the game.
The Poets return to action next weekend in the SCIAC Tournament.
Whittier earned the No. 1 seed and will face Caltech at 4:15 on
Friday afternoon.
