LA VERNE, Calif. – The Whittier College Poets saw their early lead disappear as the second-seeded Saghens of Pomona-Pitzer cruised to a 14-7 win over seventh-seeded Whittier in the first round of the SCIAC Men's Water Polo Championship on Friday morning at La Verne.
With the win, the Sagehens improve to 11-18 on the season and 7-1 against SCIAC opponents and will move on to tomorrow's semifinal against the winner of the Redlands-Occidental quarterfinal that takes place at 1:30 p.m. Whittier now drops to 9-19 overall and 2-6 against SCIAC opponents and returns home to prepare for next weekend's WWPA Championships that will take place at UC San Diego on November 17, 18, 19.
In the game, the Poets got up early 1-0 as senior
Chet Schuster found the back of the goal from five meters out, but the Sagehens responded with four unanswered to go up 4-1 until fellow senior
Michael Eachus stopped the run with his first goal of the contest off of a man up situation early in the second quarter.
Pomona would add two more goals to go up 6-2 but Whittier was able to hang around and pull within three as junior
Cameron Rehm scored right at the buzzer to end the second quarter.
Coming out of the break, the Sagehens picked up their defense and scored three times early in the quarter thanks to freshman Stehpen Vint who recorded five goals on the morning to help extend the Sagehen lead to 9-3, until Rehm tacked on his second goal of the contest to get the Poets within four. But Pomona wasn't done there as they added another two goals to go up 11-4 heading into the final frame.
In the last quarter, Whittier picked up their offensive intensity as
Keary Schlactus, Schuster, and
Erick Gonzalez each added goals but it wasn't enough as the Sagehens held on for the seven goal victory.
