Photos by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
REDLANDS, Calif. – For the second straight year the Whittier College men's water polo team has been named the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Champion as they earned a big 11-5 victory over Claremont-M-S Sunday at the Thompson Aquatic Center.
CMS looked to avenge their 2013 SCIAC Championship loss in overtime to the Poets but could not come back from being down 5-0 early to the Purple & Gold.
This marks the second SCIAC Championship for the Purple & Gold since 2004 and the second under the tutelage of Head Coach Justin Pudwill.
With the win, the Poets also finish the regular season No. 1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III polls for the fourth time in the programs history (2004, 2009, 2013) as they finish with the best conference record in the Whittier College men's water polo history books at 23-12, 11-0 SCIAC. They have now won their 19th straight conference victory dating back to October 26, 2013 and have now extended their winning streak to 11 games, which started back on October 18 against the University of Redlands.
During the Championships the Poets beat Occidental 17-7 in the first round before holding off host Redlands 12-9 in the semi-finals to move into the Championship game. During the regular season series the Poets held an advantage over the Stags winning 12-11 in overtime back on November 5.
Whittier jumped out in front 5-0 in the first quarter with goals from Filip Delic (Split, Croatia), Nicholas Beavers (Long Beach, Calif.), Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia), Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy), and Marko Zuric (Split, Croatia) and never looked back en route to winning 11-5 in one of the most lopsided finals in the Championships existence. The Poets and Stags swapped goals in the second that moved the score to 6-2 at the break.
Another three goals from Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Mirarchi (2) in the third would extend the Purple & Gold lead to 9-4 before Whittier added another two in the fourth from Zuric (2) that sealed the Championship.
Ryan "The Blockade" Brunansky (Poway, Calif.) played solid in between the posts collecting four saves in the victory, while James Kelly from CMS picked up five.
Whittier returns to the pool today to begin practicing for the NCAA National Championships play-in game, which will take place this Saturday, November 24 against the University of Southern California.
