WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College men's soccer team put three shots towards net in the 88th minute but couldn't find the equalizer as the Poets fell to La Sierra, 1-0, on Thursday evening at the Graham Soccer Field in front of a crowd of 150.

Jonathan Palomino had the best chance at finding the game tying goal but his shot was corralled by a sprawled Michael O'Connor at the 87:43 mark.

O'Connor finished with six saves for La Sierra.

The Poets held the advantage in shots (20-11) and shots and goal (6-5) but was unable to find the back of the net.

LSU's (1-2) goal came in the 55th minute off the foot of Jacob Cuevas. An errant header sent the ball bouncing towards the Poets goal and Cuevas was able to sneak the ball past Michael Read for the lone strike of the contest.

Read's season's record dropped to 1-1 in goal for the Poets as he came away with four saves for the night.

Prior to the La Sierra score, Srdan Jovanovic had a run at goal with a pair of La Sierra defenders trailing him. Jovanovic couldn't get a clean strike on the ball and his shot from the top of the box was saved by O'Connor.

The purple and gold held strong in the defensive end of the field as they successfully defended all nine La Sierra corner kicks.

Whittier won two corner kicks for the game.

The game was played physical throughout as the head official handed out six yellow cards and called 43 fouls.

The purple and gold return to the Graham Soccer Field on Wednesday, September 16, as they host the defending Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions, Redlands, at 7 pm.