Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo team remained undefeated in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play Wednesday evening as they held off a late comeback by Pomona-Pitzer to win 11-9.
With the win the Poets improve to 14-12, 3-0 SCIAC, while Pomona-Pitzer drops to 5-14, 1-2 SCIAC.
The Poets held a four goal lead late in the fourth 10-6. The Sagehens pulled within two 10-8 and then received a man-up goal from James Baker that pulled them within one 10-9 with 2:56 to play.
After an exchange of stops, Pomona-Pitzer had a look for the equalizer with 1:30 to go but senior goalie Ryan Brunansky (Poway, Calif.) would come up with the biggest save of the game lunging to his left coming on a shot attempt within five meters from Neil Forsythe.
Whittier would then counter off the loose ball and scored on the other end coming from Marko Zuric (Split, Croatia), which would move the score to 11-9.
Whittier had a balanced offensive attack with Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) and Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia) each adding two goals. Zuric, Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.), Nicolas Beavers (Long Beach, Calif.), Filip Delic (Split, Croatia), Austin Ringheim (Los Alamitos, Calif.), Roman Novak (Almaty, Kazakhstan), andJustin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) each recorded goals in the victory.
The Poets return to the pool and the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center this Saturday, November 1 when they host Cal Lutheran University beginning at 11:00am.
