Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's soccer team was looking for the sweep of the Bulldogs of the University of Redlands Saturday evening at the Donald E. Graham Soccer Field, but was unable to come away with the victory falling 2-1 in overtime.
Whittier drops to 9-11, 9-7 SCIAC play and was seeking their second straight upset victory after they beat Claremont-M-S a few days prior 2-1. Back on October 3, Whittier upset Redlands 3-1 on their own home field but was unable to secure their one goal lead late in the game this evening allowing the Bulldogs to steal away their twelfth victory on the season.
Prior to the start of the game, Head Coach Shea Harwell recognized his nine seniors who were taking part in their final regular season home contest and they included David Diaz, Joshua Dredge, Adolfo Santos, Matthew Rojas, Kevin Hartsough, Srdan Jovanovic, Jasper Albright, Peter Van Lier, and Taylor Ayres.
The first half proved to be a defensive standoff with Whittier holding the edge on shots 9-6. They had scoring opportunities early but were unable to connect keeping the game tied up 0-0 at the half. Coming out of the break, Whittier struck first, when Francis Maxwell was fed in a ball inside the box from Hartsough, which he one timed past an outstretched Andreas Silva that put Whittier on the scoreboard at the 58:53 mark.
The Purple & Gold continued to get scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity and made Silva work hard on every save between the posts, but the Poets were unable to find the insurance. Redlands found the equalizer in the 73rd minute when Charles Izydorek received a ricochet off of the post inside of the box, which he tapped in to even the game up at 1-1.
Whittier continued to pressure the ball and continued to pummel Silva with shots, but Silva was able to turn them all way, recording seven saves in the victory. Immediately following the goal, Jovanovic had a clean look on frame to put Whittier in front when Hartsough sent in a corner, but his ball barely went wide after a controversial call that left Poet fans in shock. Jovanovic had put a head on the ball in the box, which trickled over the goal line, but the officials were unable to determine if it had crossed the line or not before a Bulldog defender would clear it out keeping the score tied.
This proved to be crucial down the stretch as Redlands capitalized on a failed clear attempt in OT four minutes in when Alex Laughton connected from fifteen yards bending the game winner past Diaz into the bottom left corner of the goal that propelled the Bulldogs to the victory.
On offense, Whittier was led by Jovanovic who recorded five shots with two being on goal, while Maxwell finished with 4 shots, with three being on goal.
Despite the loss, Whittier still clinched the No. 4 seed in the SCIAC Post Season Tournament and will travel on Thursday, November 1 to take on the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer beginning at 7:00pm.
