Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Matthew McKenzie headed home the only goal of the game at 83:30 and Taylor Ayres ran the Poets' shutout streak to three games as the Whittier College men's soccer team came away with an improbable 1-0 win on Wednesday afternoon.

The Poets played a man-down for nearly the entire game but still managed to pick up its 10th win of the season. Whittier has not won 10 games since the start of the new millennium and has recorded 19 wins in the past two seasons alone.

In the previous seven campaigns the Poets combined for 17 wins with no more than three in a year.

Jamie Manning was given a red card just 4:29 into the start of the contest which forced Whittier to play with 10 men.

Statistically the Poets were dominated as Cal Lutheran took advantage of the extra man. The Kingsmen outshot the Poets 27-5 which includes 14 on goal.

Whittier entered the game having pitched consecutive shutouts and Ayres made sure the Poets would push that streak to three. He made a career-high 14 saves as he extended his scoreless minute streak to 520:25. Ayres has not allowed a goal in eight games and has made 31 saves during that span.

The Northhampton, England, native was under fire all evening but stood strong for the purple and gold. He made saves on back-to-back-to-back shots by the Kingsmen in the 56th minute, all of which happened within the 18-yard box.

Despite Cal Lutheran's advantage, the Poets found a hole and capitalized. Patricio Carregha made a run down the sideline and his cross to the back post found the head of McKenzie for the game winner.

The Poets' defense didn't allow the Kingsmen another shot on goal as Whittier wrapped up third place in next week's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament.

Whittier will return to action on Saturday night as they play host to Redlands at 7 pm. A win by the Bulldogs would give them the SCIAC title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.