Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo team saw their five game winning streak in SCIAC play come to a close Wednesday afternoon as they dropped a 9-7 decision to the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer dropping into second place in the SCIAC standings.
Whittier now drops to 10-12, 5-1 SCIAC, while Pomona-Pitzer improves to 9-12, 6-0 SCIAC.
The Sagehens used a 6-0 run to open the second half, which propelled them to the two goal victory.
Whittier's Goran Mataic opened up the game with a goal at the 5:08 mark but it was followed by a goal from Clayton Hardman that evened the score at 1-1 after one quarter of play. Pomona-Pitzer opened up the second quarter with two goals but saw the Poets answer with a 2-0 run of their own from Mataic and Cameron Rehm that brought the score even once again at 3-3. The Sagehens had a chance to take a lead into the half but Jason Cox' shot hit the crossbar in the closing seconds keeping the game tied.
The second half proved to be all Sagehen water polo as they tallied six straight goals to take a 9-3 lead midway through the fourth. With 1:43 to play, Whittier rallied to score four unanswered from Erick Bonander and then Douglas Marriott who added three with the last coming with 40 seconds to play that pulled the Purple & Gold within two. The Poets got the ball back with 18 seconds to play, but Pomona-Pitzer goalie Tyler Hill stole an entry pass in the closing seconds helping the Sagehens preserve the two goal victory.
Whittier returns to the pool as they travel back to Claremont, Calif. to take on the Stags of Claremont-M-S this Saturday, October 27 with game time set to begin at 11:00am.
