LA VERNE, Calif. – After suffering a tough loss to Pomona-Pitzer in the first round of the SCIAC Championships, the Whittier College men's water polo team turned it around and came back this morning to beat the Tigers of Occidental College 15-8 in the second day of the SCIAC Post Season Tournament.
Whittier now runs their record to 10-19 overall and 3-6 in SCIAC play, while moving their record against Occidental College to 3-1.
The Poets jumped out early and played an up tempo style of game getting one shot opportunity after the next helping them go on a 6-0 run that carried over into the second quarter. One can say this was a team win as this barrage of goals included five different scorers including Eric Bonander, Michael Eachus, Keary Schlactus, Chet Schuster, and Wes Paulson (2).
Whittier wasn't done there as they continued to score in the second as Schuster and Kyle Catino added goals to help Whittier take an 8-3 lead into the break.
But this offensive attack continued in the third and the Poets added another four goals from Schlactus, Schuster, Lincoln Haley, and Paulson to push the score to 12-5 heading into the final frame.
The defensive continued to play aggressively and made it very difficult for the Tigers to get any good looks as the Poets added another three goals from Eachus, and Carlos Panfilo (2) to preserve the 15-8 victory.
The Poets continue into the last day of the SCIAC Championships as they travel back to the University of La Verne tomorrow where they will take on La Verne for 5th place beginning at 11:45am.
Whittier will then hop back in the pool and begin preparing this week as they travel to San Diego to take part in the WWPA Championships hosted by UC San Diego beginning on Thursday, November 17 thru November 19 with times and opponents to be announced at a later time.
