Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
ORANGE, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo team who is seeking their second SCIAC Championship in the program's history moved past the first round of the SCIAC Championships Friday evening cruising past Occidental College 15-11.
Oxy who had a play-in game in the morning against Caltech was no match for the Purple & Gold who came into the Championships as the No. 1 overall seed. This marks the third time the Poets have taken the Tigers this season winning 15-10 back on October 6 and then 16-9 on October 26.
Whittier jumped out in front 4-1 with goals from Wedge Molthen (Buena Vista, Calif.), Filip Delic (Split, Croatia), Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia), and Eoghan Foley (Sterling, VA). Occidental managed to get a last second goal with 10 seconds to go in the quarter and then pulled within one 4-3 to open the second but Whittier responded with a pair of goals from Molthen and Nicolas Beavers (Long Beach, Calif.) to go back in front by three.
The Tigers and Poets would swap goals within the 3:00 mark, but down the stretch WC managed to maintain a two goal advantage at the break with a goal from Mataic with under a minute to play in the quarter.
Opening up the third quarter Whittier extended their lead 13-6 thanks to a 5-0 run with goals from Molthen, Roman Novak (Almaty, Kazakhstan), Mataic, Foley, and Kurt Holzmuller (Brentwood, Calif.). Oxy responded once again with their own run tallying three to pull within four, but it wouldn't be enough as the Poets would secure the victory with two goals from Erick Gonzalez (Commerce, Calif.) in the final three minutes of play.
The Poets take on No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer tomorrow, November 23 at 4:00pm who earn a spot in the semi-finals with an 11-10 sudden death OT victory over host Chapman University.
