Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
DAVIS, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo wrapped up the Aggie Shootout Sunday as they went 1-2 on the weekend with the biggest win of the season coming against Division I Santa Clara 10-9 who came into the Tournament ranked No. 13 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Polls.
The Poets move to 7-6 on the season and have now won four of their last six games to remain at No. 1 in the CWPA Division III Polls and No. 19 in the CWPA Varsity Polls.
Game 1 (No. 13 Santa Clara; W, 10-9)
The first game proved to be the best match-up of the Shootout with the Poets pulling off the upset 10-9 over the Broncos. Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia) got things started with a quick goal capitalizing off of an exclusion. He would add another four minutes later before Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) would get on the board at the 2:42 mark to give the Poets a two goal lead 3-1.
The Broncos would come back however adding two straight to even the game up at the start of the second but again Mataic came up with another man-up goal to put the Poets in front. Santa Clara managed to even the score twice more during the frame but Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.) would find the back of the net to give the Poets a 6-5 lead at the break.
Out of the half both teams swapped goals before Santa Clara would find the equalizer at the 5:16 mark. Following three straight exclusions and a penalty, Mataic would add his fourth score of the game coming on a five meter that again kept the Poets in front by one after three quarters of play.
In the final quarter Santa Clara would tie things up during their first possession and again with 4:42 to play but Kyle Catino (Lake Forest, Calif.) would add the eventual game winner with 3:23 to play and despite one final man-up situation for the Broncos, they couldn't force overtime as the Poets would hold on for the upset victory.
Game 2 (No. 3 UC Berkeley; L, 24-3)
The Purple & Gold matched up against their second straight nationally ranked opponent in the afternoon session Saturday. After tying the game up from Mataic in the first quarter, that's the closest the Poets would get as the Golden Bears would hold WC scoreless for the rest of the half, while extending their lead to 18-1.
Whittier would get on the scoreboard again in the third from Roman Novak (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and Marko Monic (Zagreb, Croatia) but these would be the final tallies as Whittier would be blanked in the final frame.
Game 3 (No. 10 UC Davis; L, 16-12)
In yet another featured match-up of the Shootout, No. 10 UC Davis took on the Poets in what would be one of the most anticipated games.
Whittier fell behind early 3-0 in the first after two exclusion goals from the Aggies. The Poets would find the back of the goal in the third minute from Mataic and he would add his second a minute later, but UCD would get another two goals to end the quarter to take a one goal advantage 5-4 into the second.
Molthen would get into the action to start things off for the Purple & Gold to keep the deficit at one and Christian Sook (Hanford, Calif.) would also get one past the Aggie goalie with 2:47 to play but again a late goal from Davis would give them a two goal lead at the break.
The Aggies and Poets continued swapping goals throughout the third and WC kept it close keeping within striking distance with man-up goals from Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.) and Catinoto move the score to 11-9, but in the fourth UC Davis pulled away going out in front by four 14-10 en route to winning 16-12, despite another two goals from Catino.
Game 4 (No. 2 Stanford; L, 21-5)
In a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship first round game the Poets took on No. 2 Stanford University. Whittier added five goals for the contest handing the Cardinals its most goals allowed for the Shootout but in the end it was all Stanford as they rolled to the 21-5 victory.
Stanford's lead was just three, 5-2, after the first eight minutes, with the Poets staying in striking distance thanks to goals from Mataic and Mirarchi. But the Cardinal scored 10 of the games next 11 goals over the ensuing 15 minutes and 26 seconds to grab a footing in the action. Whittier put one home with 0:15 left in the third from Novak and Stanford entered the final quarter up 16-4.
Whittier travels to their second to last tournament of the year as they travel this weekend, October 3-4 to Claremont, Calif. to take part in the Gary Troyer Tournament where they will take on Washington & Jefferson, George Washington, and MIT.
