CLAREMONT, Calif. – Wes Paulson scored two goals, both in overtime, as he helped the Whittier College men's water polo team upset No. 2 seed Cal Lutheran in the opening round of the SCIAC Tournament on Friday afternoon.
The Poets jumped out to a 4-1 first quarter lead and led 6-1 at the intermission before hanging on for the 9-8, overtime, victory.
Whittier advances to the conference semifinals where it will face the winner of Pomona-Pitzer and La Verne.
Paulson erased a 7-7 tie with the only goal of the first overtime at the 1:26 mark. He scored what proved to be the game winner at 2:09 of the second overtime.
The Poets (12-17, 3-5 SCIAC) had four different goal scorers in its four-goal first stanza. Rilesh Desai kick started the scoring at 5:31 and Cameron Rehm rounded out the goals with 33 seconds left in a man-up situation.
Desai added his second goal of the afternoon at 6:02 of the second and Lincoln Haley stretched Whittier's lead to five goals just seconds before the half.
Cal Lutheran cut its deficit in half with a 2-0 third quarter and forced the six minutes of extra time with a 4-1 fourth frame. The goal that sent the game to overtime came with 44 seconds left in regulation.
Will Jackson scored the only second half goal for the purple and gold.
Desai added four drawn ejections, Chet Schuster chipped in with a pair of assists and Erick Gonzalez had two goals, two assists and three steals in the win.
Chad Evenrud made 19 saves which includes three in overtime.
The Poets will play at 5:30 pm tomorrow evening.
