Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College men's soccer team earned their second straight victory within SCIAC play Saturday evening after they cruised past Occidental College earning a 6-1 victory improving to 3-2, 2-0 SCIAC.
In another total team effort the Poets earned their second consecutive victory of the season and remain unbeaten in SCIAC play. The goals came from four different players and as the success on the field continues to shine the apparent dedication levels remain high as the squad is seeking their second consecutive trip to the SCIAC Championship Game.
On paper the stats looked even better with WC taking 20 shots and OXY firing off seven, but the Purple and Gold were more accurate with nine on goal to the Tiger' three. Whittier earned 12 corner kicks while the Tigers tallied just three.
In the past two games Whittier has outscored their opponents 10-2 and with the addition of Lucas Depinna (Portland, OR) and Jamie Manning (London, England) back into the starting lineup the Poets look to make a huge jump early in the SCIAC standings.
Whittier got onto the scoreboard first eight minutes in when Devin Guthrie (Huntington Beach, Calif.) finished home a cross sent in from Depinna. Later in the half Francis Maxwell (Hydebark, Glasgow) found the back of the goal when he headed in a corner kick sent in by Pablo Gomez (Cardiff by the Sea) helping Whittier take a 2-0 advantage into the break.
Two minutes from the start of the second half whistle, Whittier continued with their offensive onslaught as Maxwell tallied his second goal of the contest coming off of a corner kick that put WC up 3-0. In the 60th minute Depinna then got into the mix adding his first goal of 2013, putting WC in front 4-0.
Occidental managed however to get one back though in the 62nd minute when Grayson Burdon placed one in the top right corner of the goal from on top of the box that cut the deficit to three but that's as close as they would get as the Purple & Gold would go on to add another two goals from Gomez and Depinna that put the game out of reach.
Between the posts freshman Jorge Rivas (Lake forest, Calif.) picked up the victory making one save coming against just two shots.
After a three game road trip the Poets open up a two game home stand this week when they host two tough opponents in Pomona Pitzer (Wednesday, September 18 @ 7:00pm) and then Redlands (Saturday, September 21 @ 7:00pm).
