Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team this past weekend wrapped up the LMU Invite and came away with a victory against Div. I Cal State Monterey Bay before falling in tight match-ups with Div. I Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State East Bay, and Sonoma State.
Game 1 (L, 11-10 – Cal State San Bernardino)
The Whittier College Poets for the third time this season took on the Coyotes of Cal State San Bernardino but the Coyotes got the best of the Poets the third time around pulling out an 11-10 victory that came down to the final whistle.
The Purple & Gold earned 15-14 and 7-4 victories over the Coyotes earlier in the season but CSSB gathered three goals from McKenzie Kelly that propelled them to the one goal victory.
Whittier and Bernardino had a low scoring affair in the first frame each adding a goal, with the Poets getting there's from Laurel Pinkley. The second quarter proved the same remaining tied up going into the half with each team adding three goals apiece. Whittier saw Cynthia Castillo, Hayley Parker, and Emma Sakuda add their first goals of the game helping the Purple & Gold stay tight with the Coyotes.
In the second half CSSB managed to outscore the Poets 3-2 in the third despite WC getting two late goals from Sabrina Carlile and Castillo. Despite a late surge from the Poets in the final stanza getting four goals from Pinkley (2), Alyssa Rangel, and Jae Crabtree, it wasn't enough as CSSB managed to add four themselves to preserve the one goal victory.
Game 2 (W, 6-5 – Cal State Monterey Bay)
In the second game of the tournament the Poets matched up against Cal State Monterey Bay and managed to pull out the 6-5 victory coming from behind.
Monterey Bay jumped out in front 2-0 after the first quarter and then saw the Poets add the first goal in the second thanks to Crabtree. After CSMB added an insurance goal to go up 3-1 the Poets responded with their second goal from Melanie Peel that sent the score going into the break 4-2.
Whittier found their offensive niche in the second half outscoring the Otters 3-1 in the third frame within a 3:30 span that brought the score even at 5-5. Goals came from Pinkley, Rangel, and Crabtree.
In the final quarter, the defense and physicality picked up on both sides with four exclusions being called but the Purple & Gold managed to tack on the game winner at the 4:49 mark capitalizing off of a man up situation from Crabtree.
Game 3 (L, 6-5 – Cal State East Bay)
On the second day of the tournament, the Poets took on Cal State East Bay and just like their showdown with Monterey Bay from day one the final outcome was 6-5 in favor of Cal State East Bay.
The Poets continued where they left off offensively from day one taking an early lead 3-2 after one quarter of play behind two goals from Crabtree and a goal from Rangel.
But in the second, the Pioneers mounted their comeback outscoring the Poets 3-1 to take a one goal advantage 5-4 into the break. Whittier managed to tack on one to open the third quarter that evened the score at five with a man up goal from Pinkley. But in the 4th, the Pioneers added the eventual game winner three minutes in that propelled them to the one goal victory.
Game 4 (L, 13-4 – Sonoma State)
In the final game of the tournament, the Poets took on Sonoma State and despite trailing by just one at the half, they were unable to bounce back from surrendering six goals in the third that opened the game wide open for the Seawolves.
Whittier took a 2-1 lead in the first quarter thanks to Carlile and Crabtree but saw the Seawolves bounce back to add two goals themselves to take a 3-2 advantage into the break.
With six goals being scored for Sonoma State in the third, the Poets managed to find the back of the goal thanks to Sakuda. In the final frame, the Seawolves added another four goals to extend their lead to 13-3 but the Poets were able to gather one last goal from Peel that brought the final score to 13-4.
