Photo By: tony leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College men's water polo team opened with their first games of the 2014 season Saturday, hosting the Whittier Open Tournament and facing off against both the Tigers of Occidental College and the Waves of Pepperdine University.
Whittier came into the weekend in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Polls No. 1 in the country in Division III and No. 19 in the Varsity Polls, while Pepperdine was ranked No. 9.
Game 1 (OccidentalCollege; W, 15-3)
The first game for the Purple & Gold was against Occidental and from the opening sprint it was all Whittier as they met their opposition with an unmatchable offensive presence and established a lead from the start of the game that the Tigers would be unable to match.
Within the first minute of play the Poets took advantage with a 6-on-5 possession, allowing Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia) to put away the first goal of the game. Senior Nicolas Beavers (Long Beach, Calif.) followed with another goal in the next minute, while one goal from freshman Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) and two from returner Christian Sook (Hanford, Calif.) put the Purple & Gold up 5-0 by the end of the first quarter. Despite a single goal from Oxy in the second quarter, senior Kurt Holzmuller (Brentwood, Calif.) would put up another two points on the board for Whittier moving the score to 7-1 just before the half.
While the Tigers managed to sneak in another goal out of the break, two goals from sophomore Julian Droetti (Irvine, Calif.) and junior Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) brought the Poets to a 9-2 lead. Both teams fought through a handful of ejections and man-down situations before Roman Novak (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and Aiden Tol (Tustin, Calif.) put away two back-to-back goals for the Purple & Gold. Another goal from Holzmuller extended Whittier's lead to 10-2 to finish out the end of the third quarter.
The final quarter of the game saw goals from freshmen Marko Monic (Zagreb, Croatia) and Zane Janich (Sacramento, Calif.), as well as a final shot from sophomore Tucker Vejsicky (Irvine, Calif.) that closed out the game at 15-3 for the Poets victory.
Game 2 (Pepperdine; L, 9-8)
In the final match-up of the open the Poets fell behind 2-0 as the Waves snagged a quick lead. Beavers came to answer with a powerful high corner goal to bring the score within one, while a one-timer from Novak to Pratt tied up the game at two. Impressive blocks for senior goalie Ryan Brunansky (Poway, Calif.) kept the Waves at bay and allowed the Purple & Gold to hold the score even after one period.
With the second sprint won by Droetti, the Poets took possession of the ball and Pratt put away another goal to give Whittier the lead, their first of the game. Although Pepperdine managed to add the equalizer, a five meter penalty earned by sophomore Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.) allowed Mataic another opportunity to fire away, putting the Poets ahead once again 4-3. A double ejection and defensive mistakes cost Whittier two goals before the half, giving the Waves a 6-4 lead.
A stalemate of offensive sets and turnovers left the Purple & Gold struggling through the start of the second half, and despite more critical blocks by Brunansky, Pepperdine managed to pull ahead 4-8. Mataic attacked with an impressively high corner cross-cage shot, before fellow Croatian Filip Delic (Split, Croatia) sent a skip shot flying for the back of the net to bring the score within two at the end of the third frame.
In the final quarter of play, another five meter penalty for the Poets saw Mataic once again put away a goal, while Delic also answered with a fast low corner shot from the outside to even the game up at eight. Despite heavy offensive momentum from the Poets and a strong defensive effort from "The Blockade" Brunansky, Pepperdine managed one more goal in the final minutes of play coming on a man-up situation despite a controversial call, which proved to be the eventual game winner as the Poets' final few possessions would come up empty allowing Pepperdine to escape with the victory.
Whittier returns to the Lillian Slade Aquatics Center next weekend, Friday, September 12 as they take on Air Force beginning at 1:00pm. They then travel to UCLA the following day for the UCLA Invite, September 13 to take on UCLA and Concordia (CA) before taking part in the inland Empire Classic on Sunday, September 14 against Long Beach State, La Verne, and Occidental.
