Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
ORANGE, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo team seeking a No. 1 seed in the SCIAC Championships with a victory ran into a tough test with No. 6 Chapman University Saturday morning but wound up earning a 13-11 win moving to 16-12, 6-1 SCIAC.
Despite Chapman opening up the game with a goal, Whittier would respond with a two meter goal from freshman Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.). Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia) then answered a minute later finding the back of the cage that gave the Poets their first lead of the game. Chapman did however come back reporting two goals despite a late goal from Filip Delic (Split, Croatia) that gave the Panthers a 4-3 advantage after the first quarter.
Nicolas Beavers (Long Beach, Calif.) put the momentum back int he Poets favor opening up the second putting saway two quick goals, one being a near side skip shot capitalizing on a 6-on-5 opportunity. After a goal by CU that put the Panthers out in front by one, Molthen would draw a five meter penalty in the final minutes of the second, which Mataic would connect on to bring the game deadlocked at six.
With the game tied 6-6 at halftime, Whittier built a two-goal advantage in the third quarter with goals from Marko Zuric (Split, Croatia) and Kyle Catino (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and was able to keep No. 6-ranked Chapman at a distance due in large part to a big five meter penalty save by Ryan Brunansky (Poway, Calif.). The Panthers came back to tie it at 10 with 5:02 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Whittier came right back with two goals from Filip Delic (Split, Croatia) and Zuric and never looked back as they added one final goal with 1:12 to play from Delic that preserved the victory for the Purple & Gold.
In a seesaw battle, the game saw seven ties and three lead changes. Whittier saw Delic total four goals, while Beavers, Mataic, Zuric, and Molthen added two a piece.
Whittier has one final SCIAC game remaining on their schedule against Caltech on the road, next Saturday, November 16 beginning at 11:00am as they seek their seventh conference victory.
