ORANGE, Calif. – Whittier faced a 7-2 first half deficit but rallied to score 10 of the game's final 12 goals to down Chapman University on Saturday afternoon at the Allred Pool.

Erick Gonzalez led the furious comeback scoring six of his game-high eight goals in the second half.  He started third quarter with three straight scoring strikes to bring the Poets within 7-5 at the 3:39 mark. Keary Schlactus made it a one-goal game with his first of the afternoon with one minute left in the third frame.

Whittier outscored Chapman 4-0 in the third quarter.

The Panthers were able to stretch its lead to 8-6 at 7:14 of the fourth but Rilesh Desai cashed in on his only goal 47 seconds later to keep the Poets within one.

At 5:21 of the fourth quarter Gonzalez notched his fourth goal of the second half to tie the game for the first time since the 3:47 mark of the opening eight minutes. He wasted little time giving the purple and gold its first lead of the game as his seventh goal came at 4:56 and gave WC a 9-8 lead.

Schlactus added his second goal less than a minute later, Robert Nihei added to the lead at 2:49 and Gonzalez put it out of reach with his final score of the contest with just 48 seconds remaining.

Chapman tacked on its final goal as time expired in the fourth quarter.

The Poets scored six goals in the final quarter and outscored Chapman 10-2 in the second half.

Desai added three assists in the win, Brandon Babot drew five ejections and Chad Evenrud made 12 saves in the comeback.

The Panthers opened the game with a goal at 6:45 and after Gonzalez evened the count at the midway point of the first quarter, Chapman rolled off five straight goals to take a 6-1 lead.

Gonzalez scored his second goal at 2:09 of the second but Chapman answered at 1:55 to take a 7-2 lead into the break.

The Poets return to action next weekend, at the Lance Invite, where they will take on Claremont-M-S and La Verne on Friday and Occidental and Riverside Community College on Saturday.