Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team opened up their home schedule at the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center Tuesday evening against the Wildcats of Villanova University but dropped a tight 7-6 matchup that came down to the final whistle.
The Poets who play a majority of their schedule against Div. I, Div. II, and NAIA opponents found themselves matched up with their fourth Div. I program of the season and gave the Wildcats all they could handle behind a pair of goals from Monique Dorado, Cynthia Castillo, and Alyssa Rangel.
Whittier jumped out of the gates quickly going 2-2 on man up situations to take a 2-0 lead. Villanova would however add their first goal of the game at the 4:50 mark to cut the deficit in half after one quarter of play. In the second, the game remained tight with the Poets taking their second lead at 3-2 after a Dorado goal at the 3:07 mark but again Villanova answered with a man up goal that evened the game at three at the half.
Opening up the third quarter, the Wildcats took a 4-3 lead and then saw the Poets respond to tie the game up one more time with 5:27 to play in the frame and despite a late comeback pulling within one at 7-6 late in the fourth and a look on goal with 26 seconds to play the Poets were unable to force OT.
Whittier heads to the Claremont Convergence this weekend on March 8 & 9 and they will again take on three Div. I programs in UC San Diego, Long Beach State, and Cal Baptist. All games will occur at the Axelrood Pool and will begin at 10:00am, 3:20pm, 9:00am, and 11:40am, each respectively.
