Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LA VERNE, Calif. – The Whittier College men's soccer team faced a grueling test Monday evening as they fought to pull off a 2-1 victory in OT over La Verne on the road improving to 10-5-1, 9-3-1 SCIAC.

With the win the Poets sit in first place for the second time this year within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Standings.  Claremont-M-S has the same record as the Poets but WC holds the head to head match-up with the Stags forcing Claremont-M-S into second and Redlands into third. 

Whittier now owns the season series with the Leopards earning a hard fought 3-2 victory at the Donald E. Graham Soccer Field back on October 5. 

The win Monday night also marks the third straight SCIAC victory for the Purple & Gold and their second overtime game this season (1-0-1).

After a scoreless first half of play that saw a combined 12 shots (7 Whittier, 5 La Verne) the Poets struck first in the second period coming from Francis Maxwell (Clydebank, Scotland) who capitalized off of a corner kick, finding the back of the goal after a rebound inside of the box stemming from Jamie Manning (London, England). 

Seventeen minutes later La Verne would tally the equalizer from Saul Uribe who received a pass through the defense from David Gonzalez, which ended up forcing OT. 

In the first overtime period, Whittier didn't waste any time getting the ball deep in La Verne territory with Dylan Fortin (San Diego, Calif.) finding the back of the goal for the game winner coming from Pablo Gomez (Cardiff by the Sea).           

Whittier held a slight advantage on shots 16-14 had a 5-2 advantage on corner kicks, and saw a combined 8 cards given throughout the game. 

Between the posts freshman goalie Jorge Rivas (Lake Forest, Calif.) collected three saves against four shots on goal in the victory.

Both Maxwell and Gomez took four shots to lead the Poet offensive unit, while Fortin and Gregorio Giorgi (Bologna, Italy) collected two each.

Whittier looks to extend their winning streak as they travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif. to take on the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University this Saturday, October 26 beginning at 7:00pm.