Photo by: Davis Gerber
TUSCON, AZ – The Whittier College women's water polo team ran into three Division I programs and a Division II team during the ASU Invite this past weekend going winless over the two days dropping to 10-10 on the season.
Whittier dropped their first game to Azusa Pacific 10-8 before facing off against Marist falling 12-3. On the second day of competition the Poets fell to CSU Bakersfield 10-8 in a tight game before playing host and Nationally Ranked Arizona State only to fall 20-1 to round out the tournament.
Game 1 (Azusa Pacific; L, 10-8)
After three straight exclusions on Azusa Pacific the Poets finally capitalized on the third one with a goal from Cynthia Castillo. Back to back goals from Azusa would give them a one goal advantage until Laurel Pinkley would find the back of the goal at the 3:46 mark.
Pinkley would come back ten seconds later following an APU turnover to put the Purple & Gold up by one but the Cougars answered with under a minute to play knotting the game up at three after the first quarter of play.
Opening up the second Whittier's Jenel Rivera and Jasmine Villalpando would add goals to put WC up by two 5-3 before APU would cut the deficit to one with 1:43 to play in the half. APU would tie the game up opening the third but the Poets again went back up by one with a goal from Castillo. The third quarter ended on a 2-1 run by the Cougars that pulled them even at 7-7.
In the final frame, APU would rattle off three in a row to extend a three goal lead 10-7 and despite a Poet goal from Rivera with 4:55 to play, Azusa Pacific held on for the two goal victory.
Game 2 (Marist; L, 12-3)
Whittier found themselves matched up against Div. I Marist in game two of the tournament. Marist started the game off with three goals in the first quarter but was outscored in the second 2-1 with Whittier finding the back of the goal from Rivera and Isabella Gorrocino that pulled the Purple & Gold within two at the break.
But the Red Foxes came out of the half and outscored WC 8-1, which included a 5-0 mark in the final quarter. In goal freshman Caitlin Bronzan collected 10 saves playing the full 32 minutes.
Game 3 (CSU Bakersfield; L, 10-8)
On the second day of competition the Poets faced off against CSU Bakersfield. CSUB tallied the first two goals of the game until Villalpando cut the deficit to one. Two more goals from the Roadrunners moved the score to 4-1 until Whittier's Rivera pulled the Poets within two. At the final buzzer of the first Cal State Bakersfield held onto a 6-2 lead.
Opening up the second, Whittier tallied back to back scores from Rivera and Villalpando to pull within two 6-4. CSUB would get another midway through until WC would add one more with :19 seconds to play to go into break trailing by just two.
In the third, CSUB would outscore Whittier 2-1 with the Poets lone goal coming from Rivera. Then in the final period, Whittier's Jae Crabtree and Arlin De La Mora would add a goal each but it wouldn't be enough as the Roadrunners would hold on for the two goal victory.
Bronzan got the start and recorded one save in the first quarter before senior Ajita Harrison played the final three quarters and tallying 10 saves, a season high.
Game 4 (No. 5 Arizona State; L, 20-1)
In the final game of the tournament the Poets played host Arizona State who came in ranked No. 5 in the country. From start to finish it was all ASU adding eight goals in the first quarter to take a dominating 8-0 lead.
Whittier would get on the board with its lone goal of the game with 6:53 left in the second quarter from De La Mora but that would be the last time they would find the back of the net. The Sun Devils closed the game on an 11-0 scoring run following the Whittier goal.
The Poets return home this Wednesday, March 19 when they host Division I Harvard at the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center beginning at 10:00am. They then travel to Pasadena, Calif. the same day to take on Washington & Jefferson at 2:00pm before playing Caltech at 5:00pm.
