Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo team wrapped up a big portion of their non-conference schedule Sunday as they dropped another two games during the SoCal Tournament to No. 16 Loyola Marymount and No. 20 St. Francis College Brooklyn.
The Poets finish the Tournament 0-4 despite taking part in the toughest Invitational of the season. They move to 11-12 on the season beginning preparations for Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play, which begins this Saturday, October 18 at Redlands beginning at 11:00am.
Game 1 (No. 16 Loyola Marymount; L, 19-13)
LMU would start things off with a 5-1 run to open the first, but the Poets would find their offensive niche scoring the final three goals of the frame from Roman Novak (Almaty, Kazhkstan), Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia), and Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) that pulled the Purple & Gold within one 5-4.
In the second Mirarchi would add his third of the game to keep the Poets within one 6-5, before Kyle Catino (Lake Forest, Calif.) and Marko Zuric (Split, Croatia) would add back to back scores to pull the Poets even at 7-7. But LMU would use a 5-2 run to close out the quarter to take a 12-9 lead at the half.
Out of the break, Zuric would add his second goal of the game to pull the Poets within three 13-10, but another two unanswered from LMU would move the deficit to five. Mataic would add his second goal of the game with :36 seconds remaining in the third before Novak would add his second at the start of the fourth that again pulled the Poets within three.
In one final push the Poets would add another from Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) but it wouldn't be enough to upset the Lions as they would finish the quarter on a 4-1 run to pull off the 19-13 victory.
In goal, Ryan Brunansky (Poway, Calif.) and Christopher Ibarra (Chino, Calif.) would split duties with two and five saves, respectively.
Game 2 (No. 20 St. Francis College (N.Y.); L, 8-7)
In their final match-up of the tournament, the Poets took on St. Francis College (N.Y.) who came in ranked No. 20 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) polls. The Poets would jump out in front 3-0 with goals from Zuric and Mataic (2) and would then take a 4-1 lead at the end of the first with a goal from Filip Delic (Split, Croatia).
In the second Mataic would add his third goal of the game and Mirarchi would find the back of the goal two minutes later to extend the lead to 6-2 at the break.
Out of the half the Terriers would mount their comeback however scoring six of the next seven goals to close out the game en route to pulling off the upset 8-7. They scored three in the third and three in the fourth.
In goal Brunansky would finish with 11 saves.
